


Tag

by CallMeJubilee



Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, Leigham, Nesy, Painter Zayn, Shy Zayn, Zeigh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-14 22:45:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2205837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallMeJubilee/pseuds/CallMeJubilee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Finally updated this...</p><p>Yes, Leighzus. I went there lol</p><p>Comment and all that, yeah?</p><p>-Jubilee xx</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. 1

She pulled one hand out of her pocket to sling her arm over her nose and mouth, the smell was terrible. How did he stand it? Well, sure, the mask he wore covering the bottom half of his face probably had a major part to do with it, but the point is: the smell was overwhelming.

She coughed and took a step back away from him, there was already enough distance between their bodies, and with the wind blowing the way it was, it didn't matter where she moved; the toxic fumes would still invade her nose and try to strangle her.

"They're gonna catch you one day, Zap," she said loud enough over the hiss of the black spray paint can he had traded for the red one he was using a minute ago. "Zap" is what he used as his tag name when he "signed" his graffiti, she didn't know what else to call him since he never formally introduced himself to her, nor she to him. 

"Only unless you snitch," he said back in a low voice, stopping his hand and looking over his shoulder at her. 

He didn't understand her, everyday she came by the skatepark and watched him, what she called, "vandalize," but what he called, "artistically enhance," the park. Everyday! He assumed she lived somewhere close and was only using the park as a shortcut, not that it mattered to him, nope, not at all. She was just this painfully beautiful girl with wild hair, the softest looking bronze skin, and lips that he may or may not have fantasized about kissing once or twice...or after every time she left the park on her way to wherever she goes... May or may not. 

"You gonna snitch on me?" he asked locking eyes with her, she shook her head lowering her arm and he could see that she was biting down on her bottom lip.

For the love of spray paint, why did he look?

Her teeth released her lip and her tongue slid out to wet it before repeating the same action to the top... yeah, he really regretted looking. It wasn't as if he didn't see her almost everyday outside of the park, because he did and no, he wasn't stalking her. They actually had some classes at the university together. He wasn't sure if she recognized him though he highly doubted it, he rarely spoke in lectures and always sat in the very back of the room in the corner where he wouldn't be disturbed. She, however, sat in the middle of the class and usually next to a friend who she could gossip with... Though they did have Art Appreciation together and she didn't have any friends to chat with in there. He knew her name from when their instructor would take attendance, plus, he'd seen her around in the halls or in the cafe buying nachos; seemingly her favorite since she bought them almost everyday. He heard her name being tossed around by a lot of the major douchebags that proclaimed her as, "the hottest chick that's hard to get" with a groan because she'd just turned one of them down...again.

"No," she answered looking down at the duffle bag of cans he carried. "You do know that you're harming the environment with those, don't you?" She asked pointing at the bag. He looked down at the bag and its plentiful cans then back up to her before resuming his work.

"Think of all of the toxins you're emitting into the air each time you spray," she said softly. He was ignoring her, atleast that's what it looked like to her.

"So you're an environmentalist?" he inquired stepping back to look at his new addition to the side of the stone steps that led into the park.

"No.." she answered honestly. She'd taken an environmental science class at the college last semester and got an A. "But still, you're harming the environment."

"Aren't we all?" He asked having a seat on the stairs and admiring all of his work on the park, he was close to being half done with having it all "artistically enhanced," and he'd be moving onto someplace else. "We all leave a footprint in someway if we like it or not, and I'm just making this place a little less...dull. And these are environment friendly brand, so there."

"Well...they're still going to catch you," she said having a seat next to him.

He chuckled behind his mask, he was hoping she had a witty retort for him.

"Never." 

"Yes, they will." 

"How? When?" He asked turning his head to look at her, dammit she was pretty. 

She shrugged while pulling out her phone, she saw that Jesy had texted her about borrowing her Sociology notes; Jesy found their professor incredibly boring and usually fell asleep ten minutes into the class.

"Dunno, but they will."

"Then I guess that's cool," he said with another chuckle.

Leigh-Anne sent him a crazy look.

"Cool? How is that cool??"

"Because I'd name you as my accomplice," he replied sparing her another glance while she was distracted by her phone.

"Like hell you would! You don't even know my name," she said with a light scoff.

He rolled his eyes. "Leigh-Anne."

Her heart dropped and on instinct she slowly moved away from him. "H-How do you..? I-I never.."

"I have my ways.." he said mysteriously, almost dropping his eye into a wink, though he wasn't that bold even with his mask on.

"You gonna tell me your name, then?" she asked. 

"Nope, I'll just keep you guessing." 

He was very impressed with himself, as much as he wanted to, he could never force himself to talk to her on campus. He had a feeling she would laugh in his face if he ever decided to talk to her one day before or after class. She had no clue who "Zayn Malik" was, atleast not to his knowledge. She knew him as "Zap," the guy who enjoyed vandalizing skateparks...and that was okay with him. "Zayn Malik" was boring anyways, invisible, quiet, nerdy...and invisible.

"We see each other five days a week and you've never tried to stop me. Remember the time when-"

"Shut up! That was once!" 

"Yeah, yeah...but you were right, the green made it look alot better than blue would've. What did you say that day? 'Paint that green, it'll make it pop!'" he laughed. "So I think that makes you my accomplice."  
     
"I'm not your damn accomplice," she mumbled sending Jesy an angry text remembering that day.

"No? So what does that make you?"

She pocketed her phone and turned towards him, her hands on her knees. 

"An admirer. I like art," she said softly. "I'm not the best at it, but I enjoy it. I..I take an Art Appreciation class at the University. I think you're good," she confessed and tried to shrug nonchalantly, she didn't feel the need to open up to some stranger was necessary. "Really good. So I figured maybe.."

"Maybe?" he asked leaning closer to her. She wasn't bad in class, she was...average.

"That maybe if I watched you do this long enough that I'll pick up some of the technique you use. It's kinda dumb, but I think watching you has helped me a lot when it comes to my own work," she explained thoughtfully, hugging her knees close to her chest. "I've been getting better grades in class because of it."

Well would you look a that? He was 'harming' the environment and helping her in school at the same time.

"Nice to be of service," he said rolling his eyes. "What are you gonna do when I'm done with this place? It should be done in two weeks or so, give or take."

"Pathetically follow you to the next place you choose to vandalize until the semester is over. I thought that much was clear," she said sarcastically.

"But what if you can't find me? What if I disappear without a trace?"

"I'd probably get my bloodhound to sniff out the awful smell of your paint, he'll lead me right to you." She didn't even have a bloodhound, she had a pug who was too lazy to use the bathroom in the backyard.

"You don't strike me as a dog person," he commented thoughtfully. "I pegged you more as a bird person." He pictured her house full of songbirds, since she was a music major. "And I'm not the only guy that does graffiti. What if he leads you to some other artists?"

"Depending on the quality of their work, maybe I'll spend my days watching them vandalize public areas instead," she said teasingly.

He rolled his eyes. "So I'm gonna end up losing my biggest fan? I don't mean to sound cocky-"

"Which means you're totally about to sound cocky."

"-but I think I'm as good as it gets when it comes to this sorta thing around here," he said arrogantly.

She scoffed and then giggled. "Yeah, totally cocky, Zap."

"Hey, if I wasn't good I don't think you'd waste your time studying me... and occasionally being my accomplice," he pointed out. 

"I'm not your damn accomplice so stop saying that!"

"I said occasionally!" he replied using air quotes.

She groaned getting up and dusting herself off.

"Where are you going?" he asked standing up with her.

"I have somewhere to be," she said curtly.

"Somewhere like?"

"Mind your business!" she snapped. Really, she didn't owe him any explanations.

"Somewhere like?" he repeated, undisturbed by her attitude.

"Home, I have course work to do." She grabbed her bookbag and slung it over one of her shoulders.

"But you still haven't said how you'd find me if I disappeared.."

"I dunno, Zap. Maybe you could paint some arrows as clues to the next site and I'll follow them," she replied sarcastically turning to walk away from him. He gently grabbed her by the arm not ready to say goodbye to her for the day, it was too soon.

"What did I say?"

"Zap, let me go," she sighed shaking her head. She just wanted to go home and lay down, the fumes had made her nauseous.

"Answer my question."

"I just...I need to go." She tugged her arm away from him. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

He dropped the hand that was still suspended in air down to his side.

"Yeah...tomorrow.." he said back softly watching her send him a half smile before walking down her routine path towards, what he now knew, was the direction of her house.

"Great going, 'Zap,'" he spat when Leigh-Anne was out of hearing range. "Now you're a dick."

___xx


	2. 2

Zayn quietly entered his Art Appretation class, greeted his professor kindly and immediately went to his seat in the back corner of the room after receiving an enthusiastic 'good afternoon' in return. His chair was near the window and he enjoyed looking out of it until class started. As always, he was the first one in the class and as more of his colleagues filed in, the louder the room became and the more annoyed he became. Why couldn't they come in as quietly as he had?

One by one he watched them occupy their own seats and grumble out greetings to the professor before striking up their own conversations with their friends. However he was patiently waiting for a certain girl who rocked a curly afro like it was her job to enter the room and have a seat near the door in the front of the classroom. He felt so badly watching her leave the park yesterday after he had upset her and wondered if she had forgiven "Zap" by the time she arrived home.

When she did finally enter she was almost late.

Leigh-Anne quietly had a seat and dug in her bookbag to pull out a tape recorder and her notebook, prepared and ready to learn whatever the professor had planned to teach today.

Zayn sighed to himself and wanted to apologize to her about yesterday, but he would have to wait hours until he was "Zap" again and she came through the park. That, and he wanted to ask why she had a tape recorder in an art class. It was really weird to see.

"Alright!" the professor said loudly enough to get the class to quiet down. "Today we'll be talking about Rousseau and his contributions to the world of art. Can anyone tell me who he was?"

No hands shot up with an answer as the teacher's eyes scanned the room for a poor soul to call out.

Zayn was that poor soul.

"Mr. Malik," she called and he jumped in his seat. "Can you tell me who Rousseau was?"

Zayn adjusted his glasses and nervously bit his lip when his classmates turned in their seats to hear his answer.

"Uh...which Rousseau? Henri or Théodore?" he asked back thinking she was asking a trick question. (God he was such a nerd.)

The professor nodded approvingly with a smirk. "If I were to say that today we were discussing landscapes, which one would I be taking about?"

"W-well," Zayn stuttered adjusting his glasses once more. "What kind of landscapes? Henri focused on painting jungles while Théodore depicted scenery and the lighting in forests."

"Apparently someone's been reading that expensive textbook I made you guys buy at the beginning of the semester," the teacher announced proudly. Zayn almost corrected her and said that he learned about them back in high school, but he would let her think what she wanted.

"Today we're going to delve into the mind of Rousseau. Henri Rousseau," she announced going over to the smart board and writing on in.

His peers turned back around in their seats, facing forward to take down these new notes and he shakily let out the breath he was holding now that their attention was no longer on him.

"Don't quote me on this, but I personally think he was on drugs, probably the equivalent of LSD back in his time. If you'll open your textbooks to page 285, you will see the vivid imagination he had and the usage of such bold colors."

Zayn, the studious fella he was, followed along and cracked open their obnoxiously large text to the page he had bookmarked a few nights ago. He looked up towards the front and let himself skim the class just to make sure nobody was looking at him, self conscious and paranoid of what they thought of him at the moment. It was just his luck when his eyes caught Leigh-Anne's as she stared intently at him and solely him when he literally sat in a corner.

What was he supposed to do, wave? Give her a nod? A wink? Write her a note and have the class pass it to her? What the hell was this, middle school?

Instead she broke eye contact first and looked back at board, paying attention to the slides the teacher had begun to show of their subjects pieces that weren't in their books.

Zayn sighed a looked at the analog clock that hung in the room, just another hour and a half til this class was over.

_x

"I didn't think I'd see you today," he said feeling Leigh-Anne's familiar presence as she silently crept up behind him and observed his handiwork.

"I almost walked right passed you and went straight home," she admitted, taking off her bag and dropping it on the steps.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," he apologized cooly. He was going to nervously blurt it out but "Zap" was too cool for that.

"Don't even worry about it, Zap." She shook her head. "I think the fumes were getting to me, I didn't feel good."

Zayn dug in his bag and pulled out a white mask identical to his and offered it to her, she accepted it skeptically, wondering why he was just now giving her one. Did he not see her choking on a daily basis from the smell?

"And this whole time I thought maybe you liked the smell of spray paint and got high off of it," he joked.

Leigh-Anne rolled her eyes and ignored him while she put her mask on.

"Lemme help you with that," he muttered pushing some of her hair out of the way so it wouldn't get caught and tangled on the string.

"Nice bird tattoo.."

"Thanks... There," he said stepping back to look at her, "now you look like my accomplice."

"Can you-" she stopped speaking hearing that her voice sounded a lot louder in her own ears. (That would take some getting used to.) "Just shut up."

"Would you prefer to be called my sidekick? Better yet, you can be, 'Zap's Little Helper,' everyone in the city will know of you by sundown," he said.

"Sidekick? Little Helper? Stop it with the stupid nicknames, it's demeaning," she replied watching him grab two paint cans.

"Then what would your alias be?" he asked curiously. "You atleast need a tag name unless you wanna say 'Leigh-Anne vandalized this,' on everything, and that wouldn't be smart."

"I don't need one."

"Yes, you do," he refuted.

"Why?" she argued. "And, why is your tag name, 'Zap' anyways?"

Zayn didn't answer, but instead rolled up his sleeve and showed her his tattoed sleeve underneath. He pointed at a red and yellow colored one, using his free hand and making it into a gun, he pretended like he'd shot her.

"Zap!" he said dragging out the Z to make an electric type sound.

His sleeve was amazing, and he rolled the sleeve of his shirt down too soon for her.

"I like how it's in comic book style," she complimented. "Your other ones are really nice too. I cried when I got mine, probably why I only have one." She laughed remembering that day.

She thought she was so tough walking into the tattoo parlor Jesy had shown her alone and requesting this specific design after she was done sketching it. It was borderline depressing how many tears she shed and that the tattoo guy had to talk her through the pain, he even offered her a drink and a bong hit to calm her down.

"Where?" he wondered. He didn't see her as the type to care about inking her body.

"My back." She tapped the spot. "Like, my shoulders."

"Of course you pick one of the most painful places to get your first tattoo," he replied shaking his head and then chuckling. "Didn't know you had a pain kink, Leigh-Anne."

"I don't! I just really wanted a tattoo at the time and I didn't think it would hurt that much. I watched my friend, Jesy, get one of hers and she like, took it like a boss, so I thought I could too..." Jesy acted like there wasn't a needle weaving in and out of her flesh and carried on their conversation about shoes without so much as a twitch in her cheek. Half way through it she was talking about getting another one while she was there... Then she proceeded to sing: "Ink my whole body, I don't give a motherfuck," in typical Jesy like fashion.

But at this point Zap was outright laughing at her.

"Stop laughing!" she demanded. "I still went back to the same place later to get my piercing, and I'll have you know I didn't cry at all." ....She only flinched because he lied. The guy said on three, not two and a half.

"Piercing? Adding to your pain kink by getting one of your nipples pierced?" he teased, lifting his hand to his own, pretending to pinch it and Leigh-Anne groaned.

"Shut up, it's just my navel. Fuck," she swore getting annoyed with him.

"So about your alias?" he asked getting back on track. "Make it something cool too, my disciple needs a cool name."

"Disciple? Who do you think you are, Graffiti Jesus?" she asked rudely, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Not at all..." Now that would be extremely cocky of him to think. "What's wrong now? I just said I'd help you with your art and you don't like it?"

"You couldn't have just said that instead of calling me your disciple?"

"I could've, but I didn't. I'm sorry," he huffed, seeing that he was probably digging himself into a bigger hole. "If you don't mind 'vandalizing' public places and using thousands of tax payers dollars to remove it, I'd like to help you with your art, free of charge."

She eyed him and sighed. It would definitely help if she did some hands-on work with him instead of just watching.

"Okay...whatever."

"So I'll give you enough time to think of your tag name and we can start whenever you're ready?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah.."

"Alright." He nodded. "How was school?"

"It was okay.." Mostly annoying when this guy she had never seen before asked her out and followed her around until she threatened to get campus security.

"Learn anything in your art class?" he teased.

"I did actually!" Leigh-Anne smiled. "Plus I noticed this guy in class today when he answered a question."

There was no doubt in his mind that she was talking about him. He was never noticed until a teacher called him out and the clock on his 15 seconds of fame started ticking.

"Yeah, I've seen him around campus a few times but he's really quiet and keeps to himself. I always see him reading a book in the library or face first into a sketchpad in the atrium*. I had to ask one of my friends about him -she's the queen of gossip- apparently the dude is some kinda genius or something. He's so cute behind those thicker than bottle cap lenses though." She felt a little bad staring him down the way she had but she was torn between paying attention to the lesson and giving his face a standing ovation.

"Never talked to him before though.. actually, I don't think anyone talks to him. He seems like the loner type, but I'm sure he's nice. If I see him around tomorrow I might say hi or something to him."

Zayn smiled behind his mask, she was considering speaking to him tomorrow? And she thought he was cute?

"I didn't know you were such a humanitarian. How kind of you to be nice to the campus outcast," he said lightly.

Leigh-Anne shrugged. "He looks like he could use someone to talk to."

"Is that why you started talking to me?" he asked. "Because I looked lonely while I vandalized this park?"

"Yes, because tagger punks like yourself need people to talk to, too," she replied dryly.

"Tagger punk? I think the fumes are still getting to your brain."

"It's was a long day, my classes dragged and I'm tired. I should actually get going now anyways, I've got this Sociology paper I need to get started on," she said excusing herself and picking up her bag.

"That's cool.." He actually had a few papers he needed to start rough drafts of too. "So...tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Leigh-Anne removed her mask, swearing when it caught some of her hair and knotted while trying to give it back to him with a barely there smile.

"Keep it and bring it tomorrow. Don't forget to work on your tag name and remember, something cool, it's gotta be cool if it's gonna be next to mine," he ordered.

She nodded slowly and put it in her backpack.

"Will I ever see your entire face?" she asked with her head tilted to the side. "I can only tell that you have pretty eyes."

Zayn chortled to himself. "Maybe."

"Is the bottom half of your face disfigured and scarred?" she prodded. "Like, do you have the cut marks in the corner of your mouth like The Joker? Cause in a weird way, that'd be pretty sweet."

"No, it's a normal bottom half of a face," he denied shaking his head with a smile. She jumped right to The Joker, interesting. "A regular nose, mouth and chin."

"Then can I see it?" she pushed.

"No."

"But you've seen my entire face and you said yours was normal so..."

"I don't want to destroy the illusion of 'Zap' by taking off my mask," he said honestly. "Plus the rest of my face is just way too good looking, I think you'd fall in love with me if you saw it," he added cockily.

Leigh-Anne huffed and rolled her eyes, she should've expected something along those lines from him.

"I highly doubt that, Zap. You're an ass and I only date nice guys," she replied.

Zayn bit his tongue before he let what he really wanted to say, slip.

Guys like Liam Payne.

Generally nice to everyone. Decent grades since he's not the sharpest, but he gets tutoring for that. Plays on the colleges basketball team because he got an athletic scholarship. Leigh-Anne gave a cold shoulder to every jock but him, the reason being that Liam was too kind hearted to be mean to anyone and still helped out with other school activities besides sports.

"Man, we could be like Bonnie and Clyde of the graffiti world, taking over from park to park, but you playin! I don't appreciate that!" he said in his best Kat Williams voice.

Leigh-Anne didn't want to laugh, she really didn't, but his imitation was just too perfect. "I can't stand you!"

He chuckled along feeling better knowing she wouldn't leave the park angry today.

"It would be cool if I could introduce you to my friend, Jesy. She does the best accents and impressions," Leigh-Anne said with a smile.

"Bring her by someday," he replied. "We can have an impression contest."

"But you'll have to take your mask off...either that or she'll take if off herself," Leigh-Anne added already knowing how Jesy would be.

"Well in that case, don't bring her."

"Why not? Jesy's totally awesome, she'll only want to have a normal conversation without having you speak behind a mask," Leigh-Anne defended.

"This mask doesn't come off, Leigh-Anne."

"What??" she faked gasped. "How do you brush your teeth? Or eat?! Don't you get tired of smelling your own breath all the time? And if you can't brush your teeth...dude!"

"Okay, smartass," Zayn said smirking playfully and she smiled. "It doesn't come off at the park," he corrected.

"I don't see the big deal with it. Just let me see your face!" she demanded.

"It's the mindset," he said looking around the park. "Or like...a uniform. I came here to paint, and as long as I have it on, I know what my job is here. I've got a job to do and a job to finish, the mask reminds me of that."

"Oh, okay. Well, that was a lot deeper than it needed to be, but okay... So what if we weren't in the park anymore? Would you take it off then?" she asked adjusting her bag on her arm, it was getting heavy.

"I might...Hey, I thought you were leaving?" he asked. He wasn't ready for her to see all of his face, he liked being the cocky tagger punk she knew, he didn't want to revert into the quiet and nerdy Zayn he was the majority of the time. The mask gave him the confidence he didn't normally have.

"I am, but I want to see the rest of your face first. I'm curious!" she whined. "You don't even have to take it off all the way, you could just flash me if that makes it better?"

"Sounds like you want me to show you something alot less innocent than my face," he teased.

Leigh-Anne snorted. "Definitely not. Your dick is probably little anyways and I don't have a microscope on hand."

"Ooh, burn!" he laughed.

"Ugh, forget it," she mumbled. "I'll see you tomorrow, Zap." Leigh-Anne started to walk towards her house feeling like she accomplished nothing.

"I'll show you my face under one condition," Zap baited and watched her stop in her tracks. He honestly didn't find his face that intriguing and didn't understand why seeing it was so important to her.

"And that would be?" she wondered crossing her arms over her chest and waiting for him to say something ridiculous.

"Admit you're my accomplice or that you're going to be, and I'll show you it."

Leigh-Anne sighed and turned away from him. She wasn't going to say it, not even if it meant seeing his face...she'd snatch his mask off tomorrow.

"Goodbye, Zap!" she called out tiredly while throwing her hand up and waving it.

He smiled to himself thinking that she was so stubborn but smart, he wasn't going to show her his face even if she did say it. Shaking his head he went back to painting, wondering if she would really speak to him at school or if she was just saying that, and if she did...what the hell was he going to say back to her?

_x

"So she's like, 'It has to be atleast ten pages,' and I'm like, 'Or naw!' How the hell does she expect me to write ten damn pages about fucking instruments. You play them, they make sounds, sounds can be turned into music. The end. So then, the class is laughing and she's upset about it because everyone thinks she's crazy for demanding ten pages. And then she tells me I had to write 13 since I 'disrupted her lecture and caused disorder.' See, that's that shit! Nobody even likes her class because she's always on some bullshit for no reason! So I'm sitting there going back and forth with her about how ten pages was excessive and Niall was so red from laughing the entire time he looked like a... Are you even listening to me?" Jesy asked snapping her fingers in Leigh-Anne's face.

"Yeah, I'm listening.." she said looking at a certain raventte who seemed to be minding his own business at a table all by his lonesome.

"Doesn't look like it. What was the last thing I said?" Jesy asked before eating some of her french fries.

"Umm...something about how you wish Niall would just ask you out on a date already?" Leigh-Anne guessed.

"Not what I said, but I was thinking it. He should stop acting like he doesn't want me, everyone knows he does! And he needs to stop flirting with Selena to make me jealous and before Justin kicks his little Irish ass. I'm not jealous of her, I mean, I've got the thickness and she's got the stickness. Let's get serious here," Jesy said smirking and proudly patting her thighs. "It's always bros over hoes until they start letting a hoe win, and Selena looks like a winning ass hoe to me."

"Right? Cause Justin does everything for her. Remember when he bought all of those flowers for her and carried them around for her the whole day because she said her hands hurt?"

"Yeah, because the skin on her hands were raw. It must've been from jerking off the football team in the lockeroom," Jesy scoffed.

"I thought that was just a rumor?" Leigh-Anne gasped in shock. "She said it was like, a week after it had spread."

"It spread like her legs that day! That's what she wanted everyone to think, but it definitely happened.." Leigh-Anne shrugged and accepted Jesy's answer. "I bet he wipes her ass for her too.." Jesy added.

"Probably.."

"Dude," Jesy said suddenly. "What the fuck are you looking at? You should be looking at my hair and asking when I got these badass extensions and highlights."

"Him." Leigh-Anne nodded towards a table behind Jesy where Zayn sat quietly, reading one of his textbooks.

Jesy turned around and squinted. "Leigh, you know I can't see for shit... Who? Harry? Y'know, word around campus is that he wants the P.."

"I heard he has herpes."

"What? No way! From who??" Jesy asked.

"That freshmen girl, Jenner or something." Leigh-Anne shrugged.

"Damn. So if he gets his herpes cleared up, then will you ride that pony?" Jesy asked crudely.

"No."

"Why not? You guys would look cute together.."

"He's not my type. He's too cocky and it's annoying. Just look at him flirting with that girl, it's disgusting!" Leigh-Anne scrunched up her face at his hand slowly going under her shirt.

"Then it looks like I owe Perrie some money," Jesy muttered. "So if you're not looking at Harry, who are you looking at?"

"Him! See that standing textbook?" she asked, pointing at it. "There's a person behind it. We've got Art Appreciation together and I was thinking about saying hi to him," she explained.

Jesy squinted harder and saw his mop of black hair. "His name is Zan, right?"

"No," Leigh-Anne denied. "It's Zayn."

"Same difference," Jesy said rolling her eyes. "Why do you want to talk to him?"

"Because I asked Jade about him and I'm curious, y'know?"

That's right. Jade was actually the queen of gossip and not Jesy. (Gasps.)

"Well, he's cute and everything but he doesn't seem like your type..." Jesy replied not seeing the appeal of him when his glasses were thicker than her weave.

"And what's my type? Guys with herpes?" Leigh-Anne asked with a bit of attitude.

"Hey! Jade's the one who said Harry was your type, I only made the bet with Perrie because I thought Jade knew what she was talking about! I'd say your type is Liam Payne." Jesy wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and grinned. "Word around campus is-"

"He wants the P?" Leigh-Anne guessed sourly. "You should really stop listening to the word around campus. It's stupid."

"The word is funny, that's why I entertain it, but no. I heard he's thinking about asking you out soon," Jesy gossiped and clapped happily.

"Oh...that's nice," Leigh-Anne replied.

"You don't sound excited. Get excited! He's hot, he's athletic, sure he's not too bright, but you're bright enough for the both of you. He's nice, he's got a car and a job. C'mon, I thought you liked Liam?" Jesy asked frustratedly. If she wasn't so stuck on Niall she'd go for it.

"I do, but I'm not ready for a relationship yet," she replied simply.

"Then you need to hurry up and be ready because the word around campus-"

"You and this damn word are pissing me off!" Leigh-Anne snapped.

"-is that Sophia is gonna ask him out before he gets the chance to ask you."

Leigh-Anne's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion, the name not ringing any bells. "Who?"

"That's what I said!" Jesy hollered slapping the table. "Never seen her before and suddenly she's relevant to Liam's life?"

"Oh, wait... I know her. She's like, his friend from awhile back, I've met her before. She's...nice," Leigh-Anne said recalling their awkward meeting and being introduced by Liam.

"Yeah, she's nice enough to steal your man...You better check that bitch, Leigh," Jesy said and started laughing. "Bad bitch contest, you in first place. But she'll suck his dick cause she's thirsty!"

"Okay, I'm leaving, and Jes? Stop getting high with Louis before class, you're losing your mind," Leigh-Anne teased and caused Jesy to cackle because that would never happen. When the two of them got high together nothing good ever came out of it. Nothing good besides the nonstop laughter from their friends. "I'll see you later, I'm gonna go talk to Zayn for a minute. Tell Niall I said I need those notes back whenever you see him." Leigh-Anne got up and threw out her garbage before heading towards an unsuspecting Zayn. He had hardly looked up the entire time she was watching him.

Before she reached her destination she felt an arm lay on her shoulder and she smelled a familiar scent of man. All man.

"I've finally found you!" he said tiredly.

"Seriously, Liam?" she asked and pointed to her hair. "How did you not spot this hair? It's huge."

Liam laughed. "Well, I wasn't looking for your hair."

"But it's attached to me. It's like a two in one sorta thing," she replied with a smile.

"That's true." Liam patted some of her hair before fluffing it out again, he liked how she never got upset with him when he played with her hair, every other girl he knew would throw a fit about it. "So I was wondering what you were doing this weekend?"

"Oh um.." Leigh-Anne cursed to herself and thought that maybe Jesy was right about that rumor. "Nothing really. I was gonna start one of my final papers since I know what I want to write about. I know it isn't due for awhile but you know me, I'd rather get it done now...You?"

"Well if you think you could wait another day to do it or maybe even just later that day, I wanted to know if-"

"Liam!" The pair turned around to see Sophia jogging up to them. "Liam, wait!"

"Hey Soph," Liam said with a smile, arm still slung on Leigh-Anne's shoulders as she awkwardly waved and smiled. "Didn't you just have Zumba?"

"Yeah... I did.." she huffed, out of breath. "I wanted to catch you before you left for work. Are you still gonna help me with that paper this weekend?"

Liam looked confused. "What paper?"

"That Writing Composition paper I told you about? I need help," she whined, running her fingers through her long, straight brunette hair. "I have no idea what he's ever talking about and you had him before."

Leigh-Anne was floored. Liam was the last person anyone should ever ask for help when the subject pertained to English. It was laughable considering he had barely passed even with the help of his tutor.

"Soph, you and I both know that I'm shit at English, but uh...Oh!" Liam grinned and pulled Leigh-Anne into his side more. "Maybe Leigh-Anne can help you? She's amazing when it comes to writing papers. She made the deans list three semesters in a row," he boasted proudly.

Sophia looked torn between wanting to send her a screw face and genuinely considering asking her for help. Leigh-Anne felt so out of place and wondering if Sophia was imagining that her glare could set her hair on fire.

"I've got a better idea," Leigh-Anne spoke up. "I'll set you up with my bestfriend, Perrie, if you want? She's an English major and she'll be able to help you a lot more than I ever could. I'll ask her later and uh, I'll tell Liam what she says and he'll pass it on?" she offered.

Sophia looked between the two, glaring when see saw Liam's arm around her, and then smiled fakely. "Sure! But I still need to steal Liam away from you for a minute sooo...excuse us," she said pulling Liam's arm until he let go of Leigh-Anne.

"Um..alright." Leigh-Anne heard the 'steal Liam away from you' part and knew she wasn't taking about just right now. "I'll see you later, then?" she asked him and he smiled sheepishly and allowed himself to be half dragged away from her.

"I'll call you tonight and we can finish our conversation," he promised and she nodded.

"I think Jesy and that nonsensical word were definitely right about this one," she said to herself, continuing on her path to sit and chat with Zayn, only to find that he wasn't sitting there anymore. "Where'd the heck did he go?" she asked looking around for him and not seeing him or his textbook anywhere.

Admitting defeat, she decided to just head to her next class. However the next time she saw him, she would say more than a simple hello.

_x

"Remember there will be a quiz tomorrow!" her professor announced knowing only half of them heard him and the other half didn't care.

"Hey, Mr. Armin? I was wondering about this paper due next week?" Leigh-Anne began to say walking up to his desk, her textbook clutched tighty to her chest. "I'm not sure if-"

"Leigh-Anne?" the teacher sighed tiredly.

"Sir?"

"Just email your paper to me, alright? I've never had an issue with you in lecture and you're interactive unlike some people. I can only allow it to be a day late without taking away points. But whenever you finish it, email it to me," he droned.

"Um...alright then?" That wasn't what she was going to say, though she would take him up on his offer anyways. "Thank you," she said politely and left the classroom.

"Hey, you..." she heard whispered in her ear when she turned the corner.

Automatically she scoffed at the voice and who it belonged to, rolled her eyes and ignored him. Why couldn't she walk the halls in peace? There was literally some fuckery around every corner here and if another university would accept all of her credits, she would gladly transfer and deal with her friends bitching about it afterwards.

"Babe, don't be like that. I just wanna talk," he said over her shoulder, seeing that she planned to pretend he was invisible.

"Go away, I have nothing to say to you," she hissed, turning to glare at him before walking away faster.

"Babe, we both know you have plenty to say to me," he replied making longer strides to keep up with her. "If you didn't, you wouldn't still be angry about that whole thing."

She stopped walking and chuckled. "I'm not allowed to be angry that my boyfriend of two years cheated on me? In a threesome? With fuckin' strippers? Wow. Well excuse me for still being bitter about it, Jordan."

"I'm just saying that it was last semester and you should be over that by now," Jordan said casually. "But that's not the point. The point is: I want you back."

Leigh-Anne blinked at him and burst into a cackling laugh. "What class are you failing now? All of them? I'm not helping you pass this semester too. You're on your own." She shook her head in hopes of calming herself down some before she exploded with all of the hate she had been trying to let go of for months. "Listen, we're not together anymore and we'll never be together again. It's over. Done. You've moved on and I'm moving on, too. Have a nice life."

She turned around and started walking away when he called out her name.

"What do you mean you're moving on? I thought we-"

"Well you thought wrong. I don't want you back, Jordan, so stop bugging me! Just fucking go away!" she yelled. He brought too much hurt and chaos into her life for a relationship with him to be considered healthy.

"So you're actually with Liam now?" he asked and Leigh-Anne shrugged knowing he hated that. "I heard you guys were dating but I didn't believe it, well you can tell him I said-"

"Or you can tell him yourself?" she cut in. "We're done here and we're done forever."

"We're done when I say we're done. I know you'll be crawling back when you find out that he can't fuck you like I can," he said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Another reason why she had to end their relationship was because it was always about sex with him. They couldn't hang out or go on proper dates without him wanting sex sometime during the time they were supposed to be using to bond. He treated her like some whore at his disposal and enough was enough.

"That's not going to happen because I heard he fucks like John Holmes, and I heard his dick is bigger than yours so..." Leigh-Anne laughed. She'd actually heard this being whispered in the bathroom and asked him about it. Liam smiled sheepishly as an answer and didn't deny the size of his goods.

She took two steps when she heard Jordan say, "You bitch!" before she felt his hand grab her arm causing her her to drop her book, and with his other hand raised to strike her. Her eyes closed shut and her now free arm went up to protect her while she waited for the blow to be delivered. He was never voilent towards her but on several occasions she saw how violent he could be; his favorite thing to do was to punch holes in the wall whenever he got angry. Even still, never once did she think he would turn his violence on her.

She heard the sound of two bodies colliding and the blow never came. She opened her eyes to see Jordan and someone else entangled on the floor.

"Dude, get the fuck off me!" Jordan groaned, roughly pushing the guy off his body.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" the guy apologized reaching for his glasses that had flown from his face during the collision. "I didn't see where I was going."

Jordan got up from the ground and scoffed as he dusted himself off. "You couldn't see with those thick ass glasses of yours?" he asked rhetorically in disbelief.

It was Zayn.

Where the hell did he even come from? she asked herself and looking around.

"I'll see you around Leigh-Anne," Jordan said walking away. He didn't care about this situation anymore, he would see her again and find his way back into her pants, and passing GPA, then.

Zayn put his glasses back on his face and crawled towards the textbook that landed near Leigh-Anne's book at her feet. She bent over and picked up both of their books.

"Here," she said not giving Jordan a second thought and handing him the wrong book.

Zayn looked down at the book in his hands and resisted the urge to smile. He shyly pointed at the one in her hands and shook his head while biting at his lip. Leigh-Anne had to admit that he looked kinda adorable that way...

"Oh, sorry," she said switching the books and standing up. "I know we have a class together but, I'm Leigh-Anne," she said introducing herself and shaking his hand, Zayn mumbled his own name back to her. "I saw you earlier in the atrium reading, I was gonna say hi but I got caught up in another conversation. So then when I was finished talking you were gone, like poof!" She rambled, waving her hand animatedly in the air. "What I'm saying is, you should teach me how to disappear in midair like that. You were there one second and in the next, you were gone! Dude, if I knew how to do that my life would be so much easier," she laughed.

Zayn was secretly thrilled with this. Not only had she noticed him, but she was going to say hi like she said she would and she noticed when he left.

"I'm sorry about Jordan." She said his name with such displeasure these days whenever she was forced to talk about him which wasn't very often. "And thanks for running him over, even if it was an accident. I thought he was gonna slap the shit out of me.." she admitted quietly. "He's always been voilent but not with me, so I didn't expect him to try and hit me after my little comment."

Zayn nodded along silently. It wasn't an accident that he ran into him. He had disappeared into the men's bathroom and happened to come out just in time to play it off like one.

"Anyways...What are you doing now? Do you have class?" she asked not wanting to talk about Jordan or herself anymore.

"Uh, no," he answered quietly, now wondering what the chances were that she would recognize his voice or the top half of his face. "I was on my way home," he added, giving himself a reason to escape.

"Cool, me too!" she said happily.

Damn, Zayn thought. His ingenuous plan, foiled.

"I've got some errands to run today, but uh, what are you doing after class tomorrow? Wanna hang out sometime?" she asked hoping he'd say yes.

"Sounds...fun," Zayn replied back shyly.

"Great." She smiled feeling better knowing he'd actually accepted. She thought he'd be to shy, nervous, or too busy studying to have time for her. "So I'll see you tomorrow? Wanna meet in the atrium at 1:30?"

"Oh, uh.." Zayn frowned. He had an extra class on Wednesdays during that time. "That's not a good time for me." Zayn swore at himself mentally for taking up another class as if he didn't have more than enough credits that he was working on.

"Alright, what's good for you? I'm pretty flexible anytime after one," she said. Zayn however couldn't help the dirty image of how flexible she could really be that appeared in his mind.

"Is uh..." He quickly dispelled the image, he had to think. Should he change before they met up? Should he still wear his glasses or would she think he looked better without them? "Three? Is three okay?" Hopefully that would give him enough time after his last class to make a wardrobe change if he needed to.

"Three is fine. I can work on one of my papers or something while I wait." She sent him a beautiful smile that knocked the air from his lungs with no signs of remorse. "So the atrium at three?" she asked just to make sure.

Zayn nodded unable to speak. Her smile had him frozen on the spot and he wasn't sure what to do. He only knew that he didn't want to look like an idiot infront of her and doing nothing seemed to be working so far.

"Alright!" Her smile was still in place and reaching her eyes that were sparkling with excitement. "I'll see you tomorrow, Zayn," she said walking towards the nearest exit.

"Okay," he replied knowing she didn't hear him.

He watched her leave. Seeing how sure of her steps she seemed to be and just how confident her stride was. Head up, shoulders back, and an attitude that said: "I'm doing me" all over it. He admired that about her, though Zayn admired alot of things about her. Like her hair. Or her eyes. Even her choice in shoes. (They had a lot to discuss when in came to clothes and such.)

Leigh-Anne could feel eyes on her back, nothing unusual when she walked the halls of this wretched place, but they lacked that predatory feeling she was used to. She turned her body and looked over her shoulder to see Zayn standing exactly where she had left him and watching her, and for once, she didn't feel completely disgusted. She gave him another smile, a smaller one this time, and a wave before opening the door and leaving.

Zayn heard the door close and continued to stare at it before his mind kicked into gear and started asking a million questions. Did she know he was Zap? She didn't look down when they shook hands, did she? If she did, did she see his bird tattoo that she complimented yesterday? Was his hand sweating when she shook it? What would they be doing tomorrow at three? Why was he still standing there and staring at a door?

"I'm screwed," he said to himself softly, heading towards one of his classes to discuss something with a teacher before he left. "So screwed."


	3. 3

Zayn was odd.

Not like Leigh-Anne didn't already notice that Zayn was a bit unusual; she did.

The next day she tried catching him in class to talk about their planned little hang out and instead of indulging into conversation with her, he quickly excused himself and sped down the hallway. When she saw him again, they made eye contact for a second, she smiled at him and started heading his way but then he made a sharp turn into a nearby wall. If she hadn't been worried that he actually hurt himself she would've found it hilarious.

"Why do you think he keeps running away from me?" she asked sullenly, kicking a rock with her sneaker on their way to the school parking lot.

"Maybe he's intimidated?" Jade offered, watching her friend literally sulk over some guy everyone paid zero attention too. Zayn would the definition of wallflower if he actually got invited to parties...which he didn't.

"Maybe, but I'm not intimidating! I thought I was really nice yesterday.." Nice enough to want to hang out with him and get to know more about him when it seemed like everyone else barely acknowledged his existence. "Like, he stood me up today! I waited for him and he didn't even show up.."

"Maybe he doesn't want to get caught hanging out with Liam's girl?" Jade said, smirking in amusement when Leigh-Anne scoffed.

"I am not Liam's girl," she stated. "I'm Liam's friend," she insisted.

"His girlfriend!" Jade corrected childishly and laughed. "Atleast that's what he's telling everyone.."

Before Leigh-Anne was able to kick another rock -and it was a decent size, she was gonna punt the crap out of it- she paused, putting her foot down and looked at her gossiping friend.

"What do you mean he's telling everyone I'm his girlfriend? We aren't even dating!" Leigh-Anne groaned and started walking again. "Liam and I hang out sometimes, and like, I help him with some of his work if he needs it. But we don't flirt, there's no touching of any kind besides him playing in my hair or an arm around my shoulders. We don't talk about relationship stuff ever, and -"

"Okay, Leigh, I get it," Jade said giving her friend a light shove when they reached her car and leaned against it. "Maybe you don't think you're dating but he, and everyone else on campus that cares, thinks that you are. Especially when you didn't deny it when you ran into Jordan yesterday."

Leigh-Anne hiked her bag up and looked around the parking lot for any prying eyes or eager eavesdroppers. "How do you even know about that? There was like, nobody there besides him, me and Zayn in the hallway," she whispered. She was very convinced that the schools' security might be in on all of this.

Jade tutted and rolled her eyes at her friends obliviousness. "I didn't have to be there to know. I'm the eyes and ears of this place and any buzz about you spreads like wildfire. Trust me."

"I wish it didn't. The next rumor will be that I'm pregnant with Harry's baby, engaged to Liam and cheating on him with Zayn." It was like having zero privacy. Everyone was more invested in knowing who she was talking to rather than their own GPA's and it was annoyingly depressing.

"You should probably knock on wood, Leigh, you know how it is around here, and from what I've heard, Harry loves children," Jade informed looking around the parking lot as well. "Hey, do you know who owns that bike?"

"Huh?"

Jade directed Leigh-Anne slightly to the left and pointed towards a dark blue Harley motorcycle. "That one. It's there every morning when I get here to edit the paper but I've never seen anyone actually leave on it."

"I thought you were the eyes and ears of this place?" Leigh-Anne taunted and Jade pushed her again. "But no, I don't. You could always stick around and wait and see?"

"Can't, I've gotta go to work. Are you sure you don't want a ride?" Jade asked opening her car with the keys she fished out of her purse and tossing her things into the back seat.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be fine. Gonna cut through the park like always." And chat with a tagger punk that she felt bad for lying to because she didn't go through the park yesterday like she had planned. "I'll text you when I get home, okay?"

"Yep!" Jade chirped out, leaning in for a quick hug. "Make sure you talk to Liam," she told her pulling away to get in her car and close the door.

"Ugh. Why? He's stirring up trouble for me and I don't like it," Leigh-Anne huffed. "I have enough issues at this school, thank you very much, and I don't need any more."

Jade smiled buckling her seatbelt, she was secretly loving this. "Well maybe you should tell him how you feel? Liam's a good guy, he'll understand... and then cry about it when he's alone."

"Aw Jade, that's not fair," Leigh-Anne whined. "You know that's exactly what he would do and then I'll feel like a bad person for making Liam Payne cry."

Liam was the sensitive type. The only time he was rough and overly masculine was when he was playing sports. Like the one time he cursed at the referee calling him a: "Shitty ass dumb fuck who wouldn't know a foul if it hit him in his baby dick" because he didn't call a foul on the opposing team which earned him a technical foul. Rumor has it that when Liam was sent to the lockeroom to calm down, he whipped out The Bible and prayed because he felt that the Devil had temporarily possessed him. He apologized to the ref when he returned to the court saying: "He was sorry for what he said, it was completely uncalled for and no, he didn't think he had a baby dick."

"There's plenty of ways to friend zone a guy without making him cry," Jade advised starting up her car. "But good luck because he's like, five steps away from you and I have to leave. Bye!" she said in a hurry putting her car into reverse and backing out of the lot.

"Oh, fuck me," Leigh-Anne muttered watching Jade disappear.

"Whoa! You're moving too fast," she heard Liam say teasingly next to her ear. Carefully he spun her around to give her a proper hug and he held her like that with no real intention of letting her go. "You look down," he noticed. "What's eating you? Cause I know it isn't me," he flirted.

And here she was practically complaining that Liam didn't flirt with her. She found out that she didn't like it. It made him sound exactly like every other hormone driven male (and the occasional female) that wanted her attention.

"Um, nothing, just the usual stuff. School, school, and school," she lied. School itself was never a problem for her, it was the people in school that seemed to be the problem.

"Well, what are you doing now? I'm done with my classes and I don't have to work, we can go pick flowers or something?" he offered and reluctantly releasing her from his arms but making sure he grabbed her hand.

"Why would we pick flowers?" she wondered looking at their newly interlaced fingers when she felt his rough hand slide into hers. She was half expecting him to suggest they should go out to eat or catch a movie.

His face held a frown. "I thought you liked flowers?"

"Oh," she said dumbly. He was actually listening to her ramblings that day? "I do. But I don't like picking them, if I do, they'll die and I'd like to keep them alive as long as possible. Preserving nature and all of its beauty and what have you."

Liam grinned happily at her response. "Very Eco-friendly," he complimented. "I like that... Okay, so we don't have to pick flowers. We can uh, do whatever it is you wanna do."

She wanted to go to the park and tell Zap the nickname she spent hours coming up with. (It was brilliant.) She wanted to tell Zap about her day and get a male opinion on Zayn's behavior. (She needed that.)

"Actually, let's go dancing!" Liam said excitedly. He pulled her close before twirling her around until she laughed at his antics. "That way we can put that minor of yours to some use."

"And what about you?" He was majoring in Law and minoring in business and finance.

"Well, I get to enjoy watching you dance," he replied putting his hands on her hips and making her shake them.

"Oh no, no, no," she tutted grabbing both of his hands and removing them from their previous position, trying to keep things friendly without making them awkward for either party. "I've heard that you've got some moves of your own. I heard that at Kieran's frat party last weekend you showed up and showed out.."

Liam felt an embarrassing heat rise in his face as he grabbed her hand once more and guided her towards where he had parked his car. "Yeah, I normally don't go to those, but Niall said it would be fun.."

"I didn't know you converse with Niall..."

He nodded his head. "Horan? Yeah. He's a cool guy, he's so lovesick for Jesy." Liam began chuckling and swinging their hands. "He was so drunk at the party that he had a full confession written on toilet paper."

Leigh-Anne snorted to herself quietly. "If he feels that way he should just tell her. She's waiting for him to ask her on a date and Jesy isn't a patient person. She really likes Niall so she doesn't want to be her normally overly aggressive self that'll scare him away, but if he doesn't make a move soon she'll definitely find someone else." Which was true. There was this really nice guy named Sam that was sweet on her and she's been friend zoning him while she waited on the Irishmen. Though if Niall doesn't make his move in a week or two, Jesy was going to move on.

"I'll remember to tell him that when I see him again," Liam replied honestly. Putting two of Leigh-Anne's friend's together especially when the feelings were mutual would definitely help his chances with her, plus Jesy and Niall just seemed like a good fit. "So I know this place we can go.."

"Oh, no," Leigh-Anne said trying to pull her hand away from his in a way that didn't look like she was rejecting him. "I've got something to do.."

Liam's face slowly started turning into a frown. Like how you watch a baby's expression after you've taken their toy and they're about to start crying. You just know. You see it coming.

"I thought you were free?" he asked.

"I didn't say I was free.." she told him. "You asked if I was free and I didn't answer because you also asked if wanted to pick flowers."

Liam's frown was deepening and she only had seconds before his eyes started watering.

"But we're still on for this weekend, right?" he wondered.

Leigh-Anne tried giving him a comforting smile. She liked Liam as a person, and yeah, he would totally be a good boyfriend, but the two of them? It could work. Just the whole being in a relationship thing wasn't on her list of 'wants' right now. Jordan had ruined relationships for her and she wasn't ready to start another journey into one.

"Of course," she said with a nod. "And I've decided to be a rebel and not do my assignment so we can have the whole day. Am I nice or what?" she joked lamely and still was able to get Liam to smile.

Disaster averted.

"I'll take or what," Liam teased, feeling better. "So where are you headed? I can drop you off if you want?"

"I was uh," she paused. Seeing Zap at the park had pretty much been a secret. None of her friends knew that she went there and sat and watched some guy spray paint the park. As far as they knew she just walked through, though she was probably skipping in Perrie's mind, and went home... Selfishly enough, she liked having Zap and all of his annoying quips to herself.

"My Grandma's," she lied. "I was going to visit my Grandma today and see how she was doing. She's expecting me."

Leigh-Anne swore under her breath for lying on her grandmother like that.

"A real life Little Red RidingHood, huh?" Liam asked sliding his arm around her waist and then whispering in her ear, "Don't worry, I'll protect you from the big, bad, wolf."

And to prove that maybe Leigh-Anne was lying to herself about not wanting to be in a relationship, her heart fluttered when Liam's arm went around her her and for a moment she couldn't breathe. So without any fuss, Liam was able to get her in his car and pull out of the parking lot and heading towards where her grandmother resided. Leigh-Anne's ears picked up the distinct sound of a motorcycle being started up after they were a good distance away from the school, and when she turned her head to look to see who own it, Liam too, had turned his head and their lips met.

_x

"Well, well, look who finally showed up?"

"Fuck off, Zap," Leigh-Anne muttered. It had been a very long afternoon after her kiss with Liam and she didn't feel up to his attitude. Never, in Leigh-Anne's 22 years of life on this earth had she seen anyone fumble over their words so much. He was a stuttering,

"O-oh m-m-my G-G-od!"

apologizing,

"I-I-I'm s-s-s-so s-sorry! I-I-I d-d-didn't m-m-mean t-to d-d-do that!"

and then wondering if she wanted to do that over,

"M-maybe w-w-we s-sh-should t-t-try -"

(You get the idea.)

mess.

Just a mess.

She wanted to tell him that it was alright and that he didn't need to repeat his apology for what seemed like the hundredth time. Leigh-Anne wanted to tell him that her kissing him back was a reflex and that he probably shouldn't think too much about it. And when Liam finally shut up, he didn't speak again until he arrived at her Grandma's and that was a quick, "I'll text you." ..Then her Grandmother wanted to preach to her about premarital sex when she saw Liam pulling off.

It was a long afternoon.

"Hey, what did I ever do to you?" He went on, getting defensive.

After Zayn had saved Leigh-Anne from a bitchslapping, she had told him that she had errands to run. He knew from his conversations with her as "Zap" that whenever she ran errands she still had enough time to come through the park, so he always made sure to paint slower so he'd stay longer just so he could talk to her, even if it was only for a minute. It was like she lied to him, she stood him up, he waited for her until the streetlights came on and he was positive that she wasn't coming to talk to him... and that was why he stood her up this afternoon.

Zayn was also jealous.

All day, in all of his classes, the rumor of the day was that she was Liam's girlfriend and that upset him. She was constantly telling Zap that she didn't want a relationship and how they were too distracting, and after hearing of her new status as "taken," he now thought she was a hypocrite. Additionally, he saw her and Liam walking to his car together looking all couple-like with his arm around her waist the way he had gotten her to admit was her favorite guy-move during one of their numerous arguments.

"Nothing," Leigh-Anne admitted in a sigh having a seat on the steps Zap had taken to painting the other side of. "The last few hours were hell, that's all."

She was expecting him to tell her to continue and tell him why she was in such a funk but he didn't, and she took his silence as him being focused and carried on anyways.

"Zap, can we talk? Like, I need some advice.."

Zayn rolled his eyes. She didn't want any advice he had to give and he didn't really want to hear it right now. He had been in a bad mood since he ran into that wall trying to avoid her.

"Isn't that what your friends are for?" he asked reaching for a different color to work with.

"Yeah, but I need a male perspective..." she said quietly.

"Well luckily for you, I'm a male who's got a big dick," he replied easily.

"I'm being serious!" she snapped. "I..I don't know what to do..."

"Okay," he conceded to the tone of her voice, it seemed like whatever it was bothering her was physically causing her some pain. He might've been upset with her, but he never wanted to see her in pain. "What is it?

"Alright." Leigh-Anne dropped her bag on the ground, got up and started pacing. "So there's this guy at school, a really nice guy, and I-"

"Hold up, you're asking me for advice on a guy?" he cut in. "I don't do relationship advice."

He liked her enough to know that whatever she was about to say would effect him in some way or another if he wanted it too or not.

"I wouldn't ask you for relationship advice when the only relationship you have is with your hand," she snapped.

"Okay, okay.." he muttered. "I get it."

"Alright...so I guess this guy likes me and today I guess he was going around that we were together and -"

"I thought you didn't do relationships?" he asked sarcastically.

"I don't! But he's telling everyone that we're together and we're not." she exclaimed. "He's really nice, like, he's a really sweet guy. He's attractive, athletic, and he's got a job and a car.."

Zap began to make gagging noises so she would understand that he got the idea, that this guy was a regular Prince Charming, and Leigh-Anne rolled her eyes at him for it.

"Yeah, but he hasn't asked me out y'know, like, officially yet..."

Zap spared a glance over to her pacing form wondering what she was going to say next, maybe this wouldn't effect him the way he thought it was going to. He was trying to prepare himself for her saying that she actually wanted to be with Liam.

"And when or if, he does?"

"I don't know! What am I going to say?" she asked. "He's a good guy but I don't really feel it when I'm around him to know.."

"He doesn't let you put your hand in his pants? Or you don't feel it because it's so small? ...Need I remind you that I have a big dick?" Zap asked snickering to himself. "I'd let you put your hand in my pants."

"Once again, Zap, I'm being serious here!" Leigh-Anne yelled and he stopped his snickering and turned his body to her.

"So am I," he said in a voice that was all business and nothing but business.

There was only so much a person could convey with only half of their face visible, but Leigh-Anne could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn't playing around.

Her eyes darted between the two of his, where she imagined his lips were under his mask and down the the crotch of his pants when he stood up. He seemed confident about him packing down there, though her eyes couldn't see anything that would give a hint to what he had going on. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and released it with a sigh, she had other things to think about other than speculating the size of Zap's lightning bolt.

Zap was staring back at her when she met his eyes again. He saw her looking him over and seeing how much she could judge from his pants. They were black skinny jeans and he knew no matter how hard she squinted at his crotch, she would be left with an unanswered mystery.

He had taken a step towards her wondering if she was feeling whatever was happening. It happened so fast that he wasn't sure when the air around them had even shifted. He hadn't purposely intended to make this into a tense situation but his statement did just that and he was going to try and make something out of it while he had the chance. Hesitantly he took a few steps closer to her and hoped she wouldn't run away.

"Anyways," she said cutting the vibe of whatever was started to rise and stepping around him when he had gotten into her personal space and disappointing him. "I don't know what to say to him if he asks me. I want to be friends with him, but I don't really want to be with him."

He waited for more information, but she didn't seem willing enough to provide him with it.

"And what exactly do you need advice for?" he wondered going back to his work. "Seems like you've got it all figured out already."

"I don't want to hurt his feelings," she muttered. "I don't really feel the I have a crush on this person feeling when I'm around him. My heart doesn't stop and flutter, I don't feel dizzy, I can breathe normally when we're together.."

Pausing from his work he took a moment to look at her when he heard a sigh pass from her lips. He didn't find anything special about Liam, so why was she so distraught over him if she didn't even have romantic feelings towards the guy?

"You have two choices. Either you accept the fact that he's a big boy, he should be able to handle it and tell him no, you don't want to be in a relationship.. or when he asks you say yes and deal with it," he advised. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"It's not that simple, Zap. You don't know who this guy is." But he most certainly did. "Like, what if I reject him and then he's so depressed about it that he plays badly in his next game?"

"Then that would be his fault." He shrugged not really caring about how well Liam could play basketball. Liam winning another game for the school wasn't going to help anyone pass their final exams so why did it matter? Liam was too short to make the NBA anyways and he wasn't all that incredible to begin with for them to make any exception because Liam happened to be vertically challenged. If you asked him, Liam's only chance at playing professional basketball was if he went overseas...and that didn't matter much when they always lost to the USA in the Olympics.

"No, it would be my fault," she argued.

"It's your fault because he can't pull himself together after you rejected him?" he asked rhetorically. Liam had better listen to Zac Efron and get his head in the game. "Is he your type?"

"My type?" she wondered, a rumple forming between her brow. "I guess he is.."

"How do you guess he's your type?" he groaned. "Either he is, or he isn't."

"He would be if he wasn't so.." She scrunched up her nose.

There really wasn't anything wrong with Liam. He had a lot of good qualities, there were more pros than cons and the biggest con was probably that she felt like they wouldn't be able to connect on a higher level...intellectually. Liam just...he just wasn't that type of guy. She wouldn't be able to lay under the stars and discuss constellations and horoscopes, seeing if he actually believed in them or not. She wouldn't be able to talk about their favorite classic novels because well...Liam and books didn't mix.

That's what she wanted from her next relationship, being able to connect to the guy on a deep intellectual and spiritual level. The physical was never an issue. That was all there was when she was with Jordan. This time around she wanted a guy that could make science and math sexy, a guy that could actually turn her on with equations and formulas... An Ivy Leaguer with tattoos would do just fine.

But that was too much to ask for.

"Dumb?" he guessed, jokingly serious. Zayn didn't have anything against Liam, they shared a textbook once..But there was no secret that Liam needed some Hooked on Phonics...a LeapFrog...Rosetta Stone..something to help the guy with his English.

"No," she said sucking her teeth. Liam wasn't dumb! He just wasn't, you know...close to average. "I think he has dyslexia."

He scoffed. "Is that what they're calling it now?"

"You're an asshole."

"Just a little bit," he admitted. "But I think my advice is solid."

"...What's your advice for being stood up?" she asked him quietly.

"What?"

She had never been stood up before. If the guys at school actually knew where she lived she'd bet money that she would have plenty knocking at her door. Being stood up was a completely different experience that she wished she hadn't had. She was actually excited to talk to Zayn and see what he was all about, maybe they could be good friends or something, but he literally ran away from her all day and made her wonder what she was doing to make him act like that.

"Well, for the first time in my life I was stood up.." she confessed with a sad smile. "Remember that guy I was telling you about? The loner? I talked to him yesterday and we agreed to hang out today when he got out of his last class. I said I'd wait for him to finish up since I got out early and I did... he never showed up."

And Zayn thought he was a dick before? Just listening to her he could tell that she was genuinely hurt about this, the tone of her voice said that she was considering crying for some relief and he felt like shit because he was the one who put her in that position.

"So he stood you up, huh?" he asked keeping his voice neutral and deciding not to hug her and apologize.

"Yeah, after that first hour when he should've been there I just knew he wasn't coming. I don't know, Zap, when I spoke to him yesterday everything was fine. Like, he's so shy and quiet...he's really adorable up close."

Zayn rolled his eyes since she couldn't see him. No man wanted to be called adorable. He was fine with her saying he was cute, that meant she found him attractive in some way, but adorable was a downgrade. 

"I asked my friend and she said maybe I intimidated him, which I refuse to believe because I was super nice when I spoke to him. Or maybe it was because Liam, the guy I was just talking about, was telling everyone that we're together." She pulled at her hair and quickly checked her phone for the time. "But he still stood me up.. like, I'm embarrassed," she admitted. "I waited, Zap. I waited and waited, I finished two of my assignments and just waited."

"I got it, you waited," he said under his breath feeling even worse than before.

"I didn't ask him for his number so I could text him because I thought that would be a little weird considering the two of us haven't had a real conversation yet...But I guess that's my fault, I probably should've asked anyways, though something's telling me he would've said no." She chuckled to herself. "Seriously, he's so shy."

"And you want to know what to do because he stood you up?" he asked stepping back to look over his work and liking the way it turned out. He picked up his cans, capped them, tossed them in his black duffle bag and zipped it up, he was done for today.

"Well, yeah... Do I speak to him again and ask him about it? And that's if I can even catch him. He avoided me all day so I'm sure he can do it again... Or should I just forget trying to get to know him and go on about my business?"

"What do you want to do?" he wondered.

"I want to.." She licked her lips and she inhaled. "I want to talk to him. But maybe him standing me up is a sign telling me that he doesn't want to talk to me."

"I doubt it," he scoffed. "It works both ways. You stood me up yesterday and I'm still talking to you, aren't I?"

She tilted her head to the side in confusion and looked at him with a furrowed brow. "I didn't stand you up.."

"You definitely did," he argued. "You didn't come through the park."

"Because I had errands to run," she said still confused. "I was busy, it had gotten really late while I was out and I had my friend Perrie pick me up and take me home. I don't like walking home when it's dark, I didn't want to get kidnapped or something."

"Nobody would kidnap you."

"Why wouldn't they? There's no qualifications that you have to meet to be kidnapped," she said getting loud with him. "So you're saying you wanted me to possibly put my life in danger just to see you vandalize a park?"

No, he was saying he wanted her to possibly put her life in danger to see him. Fuck the park, he was almost done with it anyways.

"No."

"Exactly. So then why are you upset? I watch you paint and we talk. We don't set up times to meet here like it's a date, you can't look at it as me standing you up if I don't walk through," she told him.

"Wow. And all this time I thought maybe I mattered," he said lowly to himself even though she did hear him.

"I didn't say that you didn't matter, Zap.." Everyone mattered. Even if she didn't like them they still mattered.

"But we aren't really friends, are we, Leigh-Anne?" he snapped. "I'm just some tagger punk that offered to help you out with your art, right?"

She was frowning at him. Though she hadn't said it aloud, she thought of Zap as a friend. They talked for hours after class and shared a lot of jokes the way friends did, he just gave her advice like a friend, but when she left the park that was it until she saw him again.

"I thought we were friends.." she said dejectedly, grabbing her things and getting ready to leave. "But if we aren't then alright, I'll leave."

Zayn adjusted the black beanie on his head and sighed. He was seriously fucking things up with her and he needed to stop. He wasn't the kind of guy that acted this way towards anyone, he couldn't imagine saying anything like this at school or at home.

"What the fuck?" he asked himself and shook his head. "We're friends," he stated. "Or at least we can be."

"We don't have to be friends, Zap. It's fine. I can find someone else to help me with my art and when I walk through here I won't say anything-"

He cut her off because that's not what he wanted. He wanted to be friends, he wanted to help her, and he wanted her to speak to him when she walked through. "I want to be friends."

"Then be my friend, and stop being a dick...regardless if you have a big one or not," she joked shaking her head with a smile.

He smiled too and reached out to tap her shoulder. "Hey, I'm Zap," he said introducing himself and extending his hand out.

Leigh-Anne looked at his his hand and smirked, slapping him up instead of shaking it. "Nice to meet you. I'm Leighzus."

He burst out laughing. "Leighzus? Are you shitting me? That's gonna be your tag name? Are you suffering from a Kanye complex?"

She giggled along with him and tried to be serious as she said, "I am a God! Hurry up with my damn massage. Hurry up with my damn menage. Get the Porsche out the damn garage. I am a God!"

___xx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally updated this...
> 
> Yes, Leighzus. I went there lol
> 
> Comment and all that, yeah?
> 
> -Jubilee xx


	4. 4

"Gotcha!"

Leigh-Anne grabbed Zayn by his arm, gently pulling him out of the way of his peers bustling out of the lecture he just attended.

Some gave her strange and confused looks of why she was with him and she narrowed her eyes, silently telling them to mind their own business. Why did her actions mean so much to them?

Zayn knew she would confront him eventually, she said she still wanted to talk to him. He thought it would've been the next time they saw each other but it wasn't. The day after he stood her up they went to class, made eye contact and she didn't speak to him. He saw her again in the atrium, they made eye contact, he smiled shyly at her, a blush dusting over his nose and he was biting his lip nervously, but she had turned away from him and continued talking to her friend.

Zayn wasn't sure if she had changed her mind about getting to know him, he hoped she hadn't, but he was quickly becoming depressed about it. He even tried to get her to unknowingly tell him while he was Zap if she'd given up on the quiet loner boy in school. Leigh-Anne ignored his question and asked about the proper way to hold the can of spray paint.

He was a dick for standing her up over nothing, he had overreacted and was being extremely sensitive, he got that now. She did not stand him up, she was just busy and it had gotten late, and she was not with Liam, that was just Liam riding her lady dick. Zayn understood and needed to apologize to her somehow. He didn't know what the hell he would say as an apology but he was sure it would be something.. Probably something that would make him want to hide under a rock for awhile.

"Where did you think you were going, huh?" she asked. The corners of her lips were curling upwards and letting him know that she meant no harm.

"Um...I was j-just uh.." Zayn wasn't sure what to say with her so close to him. She noticed and took a step away and quickly apologized remembering how shy he was. Any other guy in his position wouldn't have looked like he was going to faint. "Class? I-I was, uh..going to class."

Leigh-Anne smirked at him and it gave Zayn an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Zayn had watched plenty of chick flicks with his sisters and read too many stories of how the popular girl, (i.e. Leigh-Anne) would take some nerd, (i.e. himself) pimp him out, and make him into someone he wasn't, all while he fell in love with her and she didn't care because it had been some bet or joke amongst her and her friends. Zayn was tired of being the butt of people's jokes. He had dealt with that throughout high school and thought it was over once he started college. Everything had been going good so far, it could be better, but at least he wasn't being tripped and pushed into things.

"No, you weren't," she told him, looking at his eyes. She was thinking about taking off his glasses so she could see what he looked like without them.

"I...wasn't?" Zayn was pretty sure that he was, he had Human Interaction to go to and he was about to be late because of her.

"Nope." She grinned at him and Zayn found it dirty of her. It was such a naughty grin that he was curious to know what he had to do with it. He hadn't said anything suggestive towards her for her to give him a smile like the one her lips held.

"Then..where am I going?" Zayn nervously gulped and checked his watch. He had about two minutes before his professor would start attendance and Zayn liked this class. He was passing without a problem, the teacher was cool, however Zayn was finding it difficult to apply the lessons to his everyday life, though that didn't surprise him. It was Human Interaction, and interact with humans, he did not. To his credit, humans did not interact with him either.

"Zayn, if you're the sort of guy that I think you are, you're passing this class, you have perfect attendance, and you've already finished your assignments in advance. Skipping Human Interaction with me won't hinder your grades." Leigh-Anne patted his shoulder and he flinched. "I'll even talk to Tom* for you and say you were with me if you're that worried."

"Tom?" She was on first name basis with professors? He was not aware of this.

"Mr. Mison," she said with a nod. "He's the best, and I'm sure he won't mind. Tom adores me."

Mr. Mison was one of her favorite teachers from last semester and she was something of a teachers pet in his class. His lessons were always riveting, eye opening, and his tests were extremely easy even if you payed no attention; everyone loved his class. Mr. Mison looked too young to be college professor and that made him "relatable". He was very attractive, normally he styled his hair in a low ponytail but on the days he wore it out, Leigh-Anne would admit to swooning, and the man could wear the hell out of a blazer.

She'd went out with him for a cup of coffee once when he offered, truly flattered by him and his chivalrous charms. But when it dawned on her that he didn't asked her out to talk about his final exam, she had to politely let him know that she wasn't thinking about dating at the moment.

But would she? Hell yeah she would. Tom was hot, gentlemanly, educated and lets not forget to mention, paid. Leigh-Anne would be one of those people who preached that age was just a number because he was only eight years her senior. Taboo teacher/student relationships her ass.

"Wait. H-how did you k-know I -"

"Had Human Interaction?" she asked shyly. "Kinda creepy, huh?" Leigh-Anne smiled at the floor in her own embarrassment.

It wasn't hard to get one of the freshmen doing work study in the registrar office to give her a copy of his schedule. She batted her eyes, leaned over the counter, said please, and the guy had printed it out right away.

"Yes," Zayn replied bluntly. It was very creepy. He liked Leigh-Anne, but if she was going out of her way to stalk him... He'd probably have to marry her out of obligation. No girl ever tried that hard to get his attention or talk to him. No girl has ever tried to talk to him, period. At least not with any good intentions.

"I wanted to know when would be the best time for us to hang out since someone stood me up the other day," she accused, giving him a pointed look that made him feel guilty all over again.

"I uh..my um..my dog died."

The expression on her face morphed so quickly that he wished he could pause it and rewind it so he could watch it in slow-motion.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," she said sympathetically, hugging him tightly. "Why didn't you just say that?" she asked into his neck.

If he opened up his mouth to answer her with another lie, her hair would fill it. If he stayed quiet, well, he wasn't sure what would happen. Zayn could feel her breasts pressed against him and he could only glance up towards the heavens and wonder what he did to deserve this sweet hell of a moment. He was grateful.

Leigh-Anne pulled away from him when she felt she had been hugging him far too long. Zayn smelled really nice, she noticed, and he also didn't hug her back. Zayn was stock-still when her arms were wrapped around him in a warm, comforting embrace and she dismissed it as one of those Zayn mannerisms.

"So are you going to be a bad boy and skip with me? I know Tom's a lenient guy, but it gets to him when people come in late." He told her so. "And you, Sir, are about to be late."

Zayn's teeth had started tearing at the skin of his lips. Why did she want to put him in pressuring positions like this? He really didn't want to choose between her, his crush, the bold, Barbadian beauty with brains (and booty), and his academics.

"It's totally cool if you want to go to class and listen to Tom tell you about what kind of touching is appropriate..." Hellbent on making him uncomfortable because his blush was too cute to resist, she smirked again and stepped closer to him. "But I could always give you a hands-on lesson, afterall, I did get an A in his class."

Why does she keep fucking with me like this? Zayn asked himself in a panic when she advanced closer and could brush the tip of her nose against his if she wanted to. Seduction should have been her major instead of music. Leigh-Anne was electrifying all of his senses as she stood less than an inch from him and coaxing his hormones from the dormant state he had locked them away in. His fingertips tingled with anticipation, wanting to pull her close, touch her, and let his hands explore a little if she'd let him.

If he could muster any of the courage he had when he was Zap, he was sure he could come up with a reply or pull a move that would leave her speechless. Zap would probably kiss her if she dared to get that close to him, then she would learn to respect other peoples personal space. Instead, Zayn was going to keep his tail tucked between his legs.

"I'll skip with you."

And with that simple sentence Zayn felt like his values were thrown out the window. She might as well buy a leash and put him on it, and if he was being honest with himself, he'd wear it if the collar was cool; preferably something with spikes.

_x

"I'm giving you homework," Zap told her, glancing at her from over his shoulder. She stood behind him and he wasn't sure she was watching the way he moved his hand or flicked his wrist.

"Alright."

"I want you to Google this guy. He's a legend, a personal inspiration, really. His name is Alec Monopoly."

"Alex Monopoly, got it."

Zap sprayed the yellow paint in her direction. "Pay attention. It's Alec, not Alex."

"Sorry," Leigh-Anne apologized, still caught up in her thoughts. She learned so much in such a short amount of time that her brain was still trying to remember every detail and file them away accordingly.

"What's got your head in the clouds? That Liam guy?"

Zayn had seen the two of them walking together, smiling as they shared some joke, Liam's arm was around his waist again. It wasn't long after he returned back on campus with her after ditching when he was a witness to it. Reining in his jealously wasn't the easiest thing to do, but he kept in mind her words about not wanting to be with the basketball player and they would momentarily quell the envy rising within him.

"Actually, no. It's that loner guy, Zayn. I ambushed him after one of his classes and got him to ditch with me. I was so happy he agreed, I thought he was going to refuse." She adjusted her mask for a second and kneeled down beside Zap to observe him better.

Nervousness had raked through her body when she grabbed Zayn's hand, dragging him out of the building, while excitement quickly followed after. It was very rare that she skipped classes. The only times she had were when she was with Jordan and he had convinced her that she wasn't missing anything. So with Zayn in toe, she could feel her heart racing with a little adventure again and she liked it.

"Zap, when I say this guy is cute, I really hope you believe me."

He snorted of course, wishing she would make up her mind about what she thought of him. Either he was cute or adorable, it wasn't that hard of a decision to make. But if you asked Zap, he would say he was the epitome of sexy and a total catch. If you asked Zayn, he'd agree with whatever she said.

"And he's not what I expected!" she added with some leftover excitement from earlier; she was stilling buzzing.

"And what exactly did you expect?"

Zap handed her the can after thinking that she had watched enough and needed to try it on her own.

"I expected him to be shy, and he was. The majority of the time I was trying to get him to meet my eyes but he wouldn't. When he did, he would look away and I could tell he did it because he wanted to hide his blush. But he told me things about him that I never would've guessed."

Her finger slowly pressed the top of the can and a low hiss along with the paint sprayed onto the ground.

"Like this?" she asked. It felt like she was doing it wrong. She eased up on the button until it stopped.

"No." He settled himself behind her and covered his larger hand with his, the hand with the bird tattoo. She remained still as stone. "It's just a can of paint," he reminded her. "You don't have to be so scary. If you mess up it's alright, you can fix it later."

She nodded but missed what he had said. Never had Zap ever been so close to her body and she was almost afraid for her safety. Leigh-Anne was very aware of how his body was practically ontop of hers and she knew, had she not been wearing her mask, whatever cologne he wore would find its way to her nose.

"And go up, not down," he instructed, guiding her hand the correct way several times.

Staying rooted behind her only made Leigh-Anne more nervous. His body heat was seeping into her and spreading rapidly to places she wish it wouldn't. His body began moulding into hers when she didn't reply or attempt to repeat the action he showed her a second ago. She was hyper aware of how tender her breast began to feel and how sensitive her nipples felt against the fabric of her bra.

Zap put his face beside hers, his eyes focused intently on the work while she focused intently on him. Sure it was only half his face, but from what she could see, his profile looked pretty good.

This was her chance to take off his mask and see what he really looked like beneath it. How regular was the rest of his face? What was his smile like? Would Zap's lips curve into a smirk the way she always imagined they did when he found himself amused by something she said?

"Okay, obviously we're done." He took his hand off hers and moved away. "You aren't even focused."

"I am! I'm just..." Just a little sexually frustrated. It had been months since her last time with Jordan, and if he was good for anything, he was good for that. But a girl had needs, and lately, if it wasn't clear to her a few seconds ago, she needed to take care of them.

"It's alright. I'm sure Zayn gave you a lot to think about."

Zap snickered to himself happily as he took the can from her hand, capped it, and put it in his bag. Who would've thought that the raven-haired recluse could have a woman like Leigh-Anne distracted?

"He did, he surprises me in a good way. There's just more to him than what I thought. Yeah, he's still shy and nerdy but..." There was a lot she wanted to find out about him, and maybe in return, she could bring him out of his shell, introduce him to some people so he wouldn't be alone when he went to class.

"What happened with that Liam guy?" Zap wondered.

Evidently, he would always get jealous seeing Liam's arm around her, but he wanted to control it. From now on, he promised himself, he would stop listening to the spicy gossip their college had to offer on the topic of Leigh-Anne and Liam; Leigham is what everyone called the pair, and whenever Zayn heard their couple name, he wished whoever said it would grow the hell up.

"He's alright. We're going out this weekend."

"You don't seem too happy about it," Zap observed.

She sighed started taking off her mask. Zap suggested that if she didn't want to bother with it getting caught in her hair, that she could find something else that covered part of her face. A bandana maybe, another reason why he wanted her to Google Alec Monopoly, he wore one along with a top hat.

"I'm not unhappy about it. I told you, Liam's great. He's just...not what I want right now."

_x

"Stop touching my face, Jesy!"

"I can't! Eyebrows on fleek!"

"Not this again," Leigh-Anne mumbled. Slapping her older friends hand away for the last time, she sighed. Jesy had far too much energy for her right now and Leigh-Anne wanted the comfort only her bed could give.

"Tired?" Jesy noticed.

"A little..." She had stayed up last night on the phone with Liam.

"Guess what?" Jesy couldn't wait to tell her.

"Hmm?"

"Niall finally asked me out! Took him fucking long enough." After Leigh-Anne quickly congratulated her, Jesy snorted. "And can you believe Barbara had the fucking nerve to say something about it to me on the third floor? I almost snapped that bitch's neck and tossed her scrawny ass over the railing. Get the fuck outta here, bitch, you're old news. Old! I swear she irks my soul, Leigh! And I get so many notifications from my That's A Petty Bitch app whenever she comes around me, that it's ridiculous. It lets me know when petty bitches are near, but I can already feel her pettiness, like spidey senses, because she is one petty ass bitch!"

Leigh-Anne laughed at Jesy's rant, but still rejoiced in her good news. It was about time that Irishmen manned up, their little group had been waiting for ages. It hadn't taken Louis half as long with asking Perrie and everyone thought those two would never get anywhere... Thinking about it, Leigh-Anne had a question.

"Can you go back and tell Niall you don't want to be with him?"

This, Jesy did not understand.

"Why the hell would I do that when it took him a year to even ask?"

"Because now I'm the only single person in the group. You have Niall, Perrie has Louis, and Jade's been talking to Ashton for awhile so I know it's only a matter of time for them. I'm feel like the seventh wheel," she explained. "All of us can't do stuff together because it's an uneven number. All of you can go on a triple date and I'll just be at home. Eating junk food and watching Bad Girls Club."

Though that wasn't a terrible idea.

Jesy shrugged. "Liam's always available," she suggested. "After your date you should show him how well you can dribble balls."

"We're just hanging out, Jes, there won't be any balls being dribbled," she said.

"Then Liam should teach you how to swing a baseball bat."

Leigh-Anne sighed and put her face in her hands. Since Jesy and Niall were together she hoped Jesy's sexual innuendos and jokes would slow down. They obviously wouldn't stop, but they could diminish over time so it wasn't everyday she had Jesy saying something provocative. Jesy lived to arouse and taunt, and Niall secretly, yet not so secretly, loved it.

"How's your project going?"

"What project?" Leigh-Anne asked back, sliding her hands from her face. She really needed a nap..or a strong coffee.

"Project Z."

Leigh-Anne's eyebrow arched. "Huh?"

"Zayn," Jesy clarified, seeing how confused her friend seemed.

"He's a person, not a project."

Jesy scoffed. "People can be projects. Like how every girl tries to get Harry to stop being a hoe. He's a project."

Jesy pointed over towards Harry sitting beside his new target.

His hand was patting the girls knee in comfort as she looked upset about something. He handed her a tissue for her to wipe her face while she burst into tears, and after a second, he pulled her into his chest. Harry must've known Leigh-Anne and Jesy were watching. He patted the back of the woman in his arms and winked over at the pair with a smirk.

"A failed project." Leigh-Anne rolled her eyes. "There's no getting him to stop if he honestly doesn't want to. Those girls are idiots for trying, and yes, that means Jade, too."

"Jade wasn't trying to change him," Jesy corrected. "It was a few years back when he wasn't that bad. Jade only wanted the dick because she heard he was amazing."

"Passing around the herpes stick.."

"This was before he had herpes."

"But after his chlamydia?"

"Word is, he's fucking the Dean."

Leigh-Anne gasped in surprise, her eyes darting towards the player who was pulling the girl to her feet.

That had to be the craziest thing she had ever heard about him and although she didn't consider Harry a friend or bothered with the copious rumors, she really hoped it this one wasn't true. Who did that? Harry was smart, he didn't need to have sex with the dean to graduate! This had to be another conquest just to see if he could get away with it. It had to be.

"Isn't that Zayn?" Jesy nodded over towards a guy sitting in a corner with his head down, apparently absorbed in a book.

"Looks like it. Did you wanna say hi?"

Leigh-Anne had planned on introducing him to one of her friends every other day if she could. No one should sit alone and that's all he ever did, even in class. She thought it must get lonely not talking to anyone that wasn't family.

"Why?"

"Because he needs to start talking to people," Leigh-Anne explained with a small frown. "I think it would be good for him. Socializing is healthy."

"Leigh, just look at him."

"What about him?"

Zayn seemed like your average shy guy. There wasn't anything wrong about him if that's what Jesy was implying.

"Maybe Louis and Niall should talk to him first? I don't think two bomb babes in his face would be good for his health... He probably watches porn like he needs it to breathe." Jesy chuckled. "He's cute though, like, in The Big Bang Theory kinda way."

"I think so too," Leigh-Anne agreed in a mutter. Zayn was definitely cute, no doubt about it.

Jesy looked from Zayn to her friend, then back to Zayn.

"You won't get back with Jordan, and I don't blame you because he's a dick... And you don't want to be with Liam, and I think that's a mistake because Liam is a good guy."

"Where are you going with this?" Leigh-Anne asked.

"Project Zeigh," Jesy told her getting up from their table.

"Project Zeigh?" she repeated until it clicked.

Her and Zayn. Zeigh.

"Jesy, don't." Leigh-Anne reached out and pulled on her friend's arm. She had to stop her. Jesy could make a tiger shit itself, and Leigh-Anne didn't want to think what would happened to Zayn if her friend approached him like that.

"Leigh, come on." Jesy gave her a sympathetic smile. "We both know you miss being in a relationship."

Leigh-Anne could lie and say that she didn't, but she did. She wanted to be held again and told how precious she was. She missed being kissed and caressed, or even tickled until she tapped out. She missed the butterflies and irregular heartbeats she got when something special was about to happen. She missed having someone there. Confiding in your friends about your problems and the things that stressed you out was completely different than confiding in your boyfriend about them.

"But that doesn't mean I want to be in a relationship with Zayn." Leigh-Anne looked at him and saw as he jotted down something and highlighted a passage in a textbook.

"You don't know that."

_x

"Where the heck is he?" Leigh-Anne asked checking her phone again.

Zap was always there before her but he wasn't there at all today.

Sitting on the steps of the park, she was growing impatient. The steps were hard and not what her butt needed after sitting in hard chairs all day in class. She knew she should've accepted Perrie's invitation to the mall after class. Perrie thought that Leigh-Anne should pick up a new outfit to wear for when she and Liam hung out. But Leigh-Anne had to tell her for the fourth time that that would be all they were doing. Hanging out. Leigh-Anne didn't plan to put on any makeup, maybe just fill in her eyebrows a little bit, but nothing else.

"He should've told me yesterday that he wasn't going to be here today," she complained.

This sucked. Zap had all of the paint and she didn't know where to even get any. It was a good thing she didn't pay for his help, she would definitely want a refund if she had.

"That punk," she said.

Leigh-Anne opened her backpack and took out one of her notebooks. If Zap didn't get there in 15 minutes she was going to leave.

She hummed the melody her Professor had composed and started her homework: To create lyrics for it. He hadn't been specific about what kind of song it had to be, instead, he wanted them to focus on what song it could be. It was hard. Parts of it were slow and automatically her brain jumped to a ballard. Then other parts speed up and reminded her of a pop song. The bridge turned into an R&B rhythm and she didn't know what it could possibly be. Would it eventually start to write itself? Or did she need to go for a long walk and imagine how it would sound as if it was already completed and playing on the radio?

"Damn you, Cimor!" she cursed, tapping her pen to her lips. "What do you want from me?!"

The obvious choice was to make it a love song, she thought and frowned. But if it was obvious, that meant it was probably wrong.

"He wants what every guy wants from you," said a low voice in her ear followed by a finger sliding down her spine.

Leigh-Anne jumped away, her notebook flying from her lap.

"You piece of shit!" she yelled, palm to her heart. "Don't scare me like that!"

He snickered.

"It's not funny, Zap!"

"For a person that doesn't want to get kidnapped, you don't pay enough attention to your surroundings," he pointed out. "I could've kidnapped you."

Leigh-Anne narrowed her eyes at him now that her scare was over. "You're late."

"I got caught up in some things." Zap shrugged and went to pick up her notebook from the ground. "What's this? Homework?"

"Yeah. I've got to make up some lyrics for a song and it's giving me a headache. I can't decide what type of song it should be," she explained. "The melody is weird."

Zap nodded and handed her the book, sitting next to her. "Sing it to me."

"What?"

"Sing me the melody. I'll help you with your homework since I was late." Though her and her friend were the reason behind it.

Zayn had been minding his own business in the atrium, editing the notes he had taken earlier so he could give them to a counselor. He took notes for two students as apart of his work-study program and they had to be accurate and complete by the end of every day. He didn't know the identity of the students, they wanted anonymity, so the counselor was responsible for notifying the students so they could pick them up. It wasn't that bad of a job, the notes only needed to be neat and thorough, and typing them was always an option. Zayn had been doing it for a few semesters now and the counselor he reported to always choose him as her first choice whenever someone needed a note taker.

He'd spotted Leigh-Anne accompanied by her usual atrium friend talking and didn't think anything of it. If asked, he would not admit to smiling at her before blushing and looking away. There was a lot he had to focus on, like making sure he took precautions with the things he told her as Zap and the things he was beginning to reveal to her as Zayn, and of course there was school and his family. Zayn needed to stay focused no matter what.

He was getting paid to take great notes. He had a scholarship and needed to keep it if he wanted to remain in school. His family had high academic standards, and expected great things from him. Zayn didn't want to let anyone down and he promised them all, himself included, that he wouldn't. He wouldn't let his feelings for Leigh-Anne or his graffiti distract him.

Leigh-Anne and her friend approached him and instantly, he froze up. Jesy had slammed her hand down on the table loudly and he, being the guy afraid of his own shadow, jumped in surprise.

Jesy snickered at him and sat down after Leigh-Anne had taken her own seat. His crush introduced them and he learned that Jesy was Niall's girlfriend. Zayn liked Niall, though it was hard for anyone to actually dislike Niall. Zayn thought Niall was a cool guy whenever he had a class with him.

Jesy. She was more than he was ready for and wondered how Niall dealt with her. There wasn't a line she felt like she shouldn't cross when she asked him questions, and she would pester him until he answered them. Leigh-Anne looked so embarrassed by her, covering her face and shaking her head. Leigh-Anne tried several times to get Jesy to stop with the inquiries, but Jesy would shush her saying, "Hey, I thought you wanted us to be friends with each other? We can't be friends if we don't get to know one another." And Leigh-Anne would concede and go back to shaking her head; Zayn wished she would've been more persistent.

The worst part came when Leigh-Anne had left him and Jesy alone when Liam beckoned her over to him with a wave.

Jesy let him know everything. She told him that Leigh-Anne's ex was a douche, which he already knew, and that Liam had his sights set on her. Unfraid of saying what was on her mind, Jesy told him that she wanted Leigh-Anne and Liam to be together, but if not, he needed to start showing interest in her.

Zayn asked her about that, though it came out as stutter because he wasn't sure how she would react to him questioning her. Jesy just assumed he liked Leigh-Anne without any proof. Jesy wasn't wrong, but she was presumptuous. So presumptuous that she scoffed and waved him off saying that Leigh-Anne was the most likable person there was, he couldn't do any better than her. (Jesy clearly refused to spare his feelings.) She went on to list all of Leigh-Anne's great qualities, and when Leigh-Anne hugged Liam goodbye, Jesy lowered her voice and threatened him.

"I don't know why, Leigh suddenly wants to be friends with you, but if this thing with Liam goes up in smoke and you're not there for her, I guarantee the rest of your time here will be fucking hell," she said and then laughed like she had just told a joke when Leigh-Anne had a seat.

That was the first threat he had gotten since he embarked on the road to collegiate life, and it came from his crush's best friend. Sure, he could be there for Leigh-Anne, but what exactly did that mean? You could be there for someone in a handful of ways; emotionally, religiously, mentally, physically. Zayn could let her cry on his shoulder. He could pray for her. He could give her all of the pep talks she needed. But he couldn't be the guy who takes advantage of her unstable emotions and ends up sleeping with her before the night is over; if Jesy thought that was how he needed to be there for Leigh-Anne, she needed to rethink her stance on things.

The three of them, mainly Jesy, talked for awhile and Zayn had forgotten all about editing his notes. It took him two extra hours to make sure they were detailed enough and then he had to hand them in. That's when he realized that Leigh-Anne would be a distraction.

Leigh-Anne sung him the melody. He nodded along. Then she stopped.

"But I don't know what to write for lyrics that would bring the song to life," she told him.

"It's a duet, so you should write it as one," Zap replied easily.

"It's not a duet."

"Well, it's not really anything right now, is it? The way I heard it made it seem like a duet. And you're right the melody is weird, but I think it's that way because it's trying to tell a story," he explain. "The songs we consider to be 'good music' are usually just good stories, right? The lyrics trigger the thoughts and memories in the brain, and the listener thinks about similar experiences they've had, or they imagine them. And the melody triggers the emotions they felt when it was happening or even like, the background music to those experiences. Some of your favorite songs that mean the most to you are probably because you can relate to them, right? And you think the words and melody go so hand it hand, that it's literally perfect. Like you couldn't have said it better yourself."

"Whoa," she said looking at Zap in awe.

He smirked beneath his mask, loving how he had her speechless.

"Who would have guessed that Zap knew anything about music?" she asked herself. "Who knew you knew anything outside of vandalism and spray paint?"

"I know a lot of things." More specifically, things about her.

Leigh-Anne smiled. "Like how to be an annoying dick and get under my skin."

"If you would get under me I think you would find my dick less annoying." He shrugged and she snorted, pushing him.

"You having a big dick doesn't mean anything," she said. "I don't care."

"You don't have to care. You'll appreciate it whenever you take me up on my offer of putting your hand in my pants." Zap laughed and stood up to stretch his legs.

He decided to walk to the park instead of using his skateboard, he lived a good distance away and needed to clear his mind about some things the way only a good walk could.

"I'm never taking that offer, Zap," she deadpanned. "The truth is, you just want me to touch your micropenis."

Zap tutted and grabbed himself, effectively getting her attention; Leigh-Anne noticed that he wasn't in his usual skinny jeans and wore sweatpants in their place.

"Does this look like a micropenis to you?" he asked arrogantly.

This was the cockiness he wanted to have earlier. Something that would make her see that he was capable of making her as uncomfortable as she made him.

Leigh-Anne eyed it and bit her lip. No, it didn't look like a micropenis, it looked like a macro-cock. Her gazed traveled up to Zap's eyes and then back to his groin. There was an impressive bulge in his hand, it looked heavy, and Leigh-Anne didn't want to remember that it got bigger when he was ready.

Zap was pleaseanty surprised to see how quickly her pupils started to dilate and her eyes glazing over with lust.

"Maybe you have big balls," Leigh-Anne said slowly, trying to force herself to look away. That was behind her yesterday when Zap had pressed himself against her, she thought and licked her lips. Leigh-Anne clenched her thighs together to try and stop the throbbing between them.

He scoffed. "I'm sure we can agree that I'm hung like a horse."

It was too bad she didn't know how to ride a horse.

"Or maybe you just have big balls," she argued. "Big balls to make up for your micropenis."

He let himself go and laughed when he saw her lips tug downward into a frown. "Stick your hand in there and find out for yourself."

In her current state of arousal, that would be a terrible mistake. She didn't even know Zap. She didn't even know what the man really looked like! So why on God's green earth would she stick her hand down his sweats and probably end up stroking him off? Leigh-Anne was not okay with this. But she was cozying up the idea of playing a one-on-one game with Liam that lead to some relief.

"I'd rather not."

____xx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tom Mison, "Ichabod Crane" from "Sleepy Hollow," can get it. All of it. I mean, Abby should get it first, but I want it, too. I'll share.
> 
> I should've had Perrie in this chapter but writing her is such a drag for me. Plus I love writing Jesy's character lol
> 
> xx


	5. 5

"No."

He chuckled deviously against her neck. "I thought this is what you wanted?" His mouth kissed and sucked bruises onto her breasts. He was determined to leave his mark so she would remember this, her being pleasured in the way he only he could.

"It is, but-" her words were lost in a moan when his mouth closed over her nipple. His lips smirked around it while his tongue circled and tasted... and from the way her hands went to the back of his head pulling his head closer to her, he knew they were her hotspots.

"But you're not going to let me stop," he told her confidently in a rich, husky voice. He sensually kissed his way back to her lips and traced them with the tip of his tongue, enjoying how he elicited another soft moan from her before kissing her deeply. 

His hand roamed to her hips, tracing her hipbone and rubbed towards her center but not touching it the way she needed him to. When she thrusted her hips upwards into his hand, he would remove it and tsk tsk tsk at her impatience.

"Beg for it." He kissed her trembling mouth and coquettishly grinned at how beautiful she was writhing beneath him, and the thought of how much more he was going to make her squirm. "Beg for it, Leigh-Anne."

His rough palm cupped her and his fingers found themselves sliding up and down her slick opening, waiting to enter. She was wet and ready, and if he didn't have so much self control, he would take her now and take her deep.

"N-no," she stuttered out. 

He shook his head, still grinning, though. Of course she would be stubborn, he did like that about her. He slid the tip of his finger inside of her slick heat, loving how she gasped in surprise, and went up and down slowly, teasingly. 

"Say my name, say my name," he singsonged.

"No, you asshole."

He snorted at her insult and pulled the tip of his digit from her and when her lips turned into a frown, he came back with two, going deep and slowly opening her up. He would hate himself if he hurt her, and he had a lot that he could hurt her with; he was well above average there. He wanted to make this as pleasurable as possible.

"What's my name?" he asked tauntingly. He bit her neck and sucked on the spot until another lovely bruise formed there. She was going to be covered in bruises at this rate and he was going to love counting all of them when they were finished. "Say it now or scream it later."

"I'm not—"

He captured her mouth and was determined to get her to surrender. She was going to scream his name, dammit. Even if it was the last thing he ever heard, she was going to say it. So he kissed her passionately, his fingers going as deep as they could and curling around her G-spot and frantically prodding and rubbing it. Leigh-Anne had no choice but to kiss him back. She was on the verge of tears because he was right, this what exactly what she had wanted, and she wasn't going to tell him to stop. 

He roughly thrusted his fingers and expertly flicked his thumb over her clit after he felt her squeeze his digits embedded inside of her. Relentlessly he assaulted her lips until she was ready to take a breath and scream his name so loudly it would wake the dead. She twisted beneath him, grabbing at air because for some reason she liked being tied up and being at the mercy of her lover. However, Leigh-Anne never thought she would ever be at his mercy. Him of all people.

She mumbled something incoherent mixed in with a pleading mewl, and it was music to his ears. A reedy whisper of a name, followed by a scream, then a sigh, and then a longer sigh.

"What was that?" he wondered, leaning in closer to her mouth and licking her neck. "I didn't hear you."

She glared at him, of course he heard exactly what she had said, he just wanted to humiliate her. 

"Fuck you, Zap!"

Chuckling, he removed his fingers and brought them to his lips to appreciate her flavor and admire his handiwork. She tasted nothing like he thought she would, it was better than he imagined. His digits left his mouth with a pop and he smirked down at her helpless, sweat covered body.

"You will in just a second."

_x

Leigh-Anne was embarrassed.

She was also livid.

But mostly embarrassed.

Leigh-Anne didn't know what was worse: having your mom wake you up from a raunchy sex dream or being mad at her because you were actually enjoying it.

Luckily, her mom understood. She understood a little too well and after waking her up, completely drenched in sweat, her mother left her room. Then she returned with a box and muttered a hurried, "I think you need this more than I do," before leaving again.

Leigh-Anne wasn't sure what to think, but when she opened the box to look inside, the only thought she had was: kill me now. Because there was an angry red dildo coupled with two new packs of AA batteries, a stickynote saying that the toy hadn't been used and, "I hope whoever the hell this Zap is, I'll meet him soon ;)". 

Yes, kill me now, Leigh-Anne thought, her eyes glancing back and forth between the toy and the unopened batteries. She didn't need a toy, she needed a boy. Correction: A man. A man to caress, kiss, and fuck her brains out because she had to be going crazy from being sexually frustrated.

"Zap?" she spat. "Really, Self? What the fuck?" She was still debating if she should actually use the damn thing or not. Upon closer inspection, she could see why her mother had purchased it. I mean, why not when it was ribbed, curved, and vibrated? 

Why was her mother even -Better yet, let's not ask that question.

Leigh-Anne sighed and wiped her neck. Dreams feel real when you're in them, she heard in her mind and frowned.

"Damn you, Leonardo DiCaprio!" she yelled, because he was right; she probably shouldn't have watched "Inception" last night before going to bed. It had felt real. Too real. So real that if she was truly going insane, she would say aloud that somehow, she didn't know how, but somehow, Zap had managed to break into her home, tie her up and pleasure her. Not exactly against her will because dream Leigh-Anne looked like she was enjoying every bit of it, especially when she was able to turn the tables on him and finally being on top.

"Lucky bitch," she muttered sourly before her eyebrows knitted together. "Wait, what? What am I saying?!"

There was a quick knock at her door before her mom peaked her head in, making sure her daughter was decent before fulling stepping inside her room.

"I uh..heard you yell. So if you need any pictures of Leo, I've got -"

"No, no, no!" Leigh-Anne interrupted, still embarrassed that her mom had a dildo and felt like she needed it more than her. She was 22 and fully capable of handling her sexual frustration. "I'm fine, thanks... Please leave." 

Her mom smiled at her and Leigh-Anne huffed, feeling like her mother wanted to talk about this. She was thoroughly embarrassed and very confused, Leigh-Anne didn't want to talk about this to anyone.

Zap should not be in her dreams. Zap should not be in her sex dreams. Zap should not be the guy making her body overheat at just the thought of those dreams because...because he just shouldn't.

But why was he?

She didn't know what the hell he even looked like beneath his mask to fantasize about him. And thinking about it, she hadn't taken notice of what she had imagined the bottom half of his face looked like in her dream. He had kissed her multiple times, left her gifts in the form of hickeys and he had used his tongue and teeth on her. Although she was positive he wasn't wearing a mask in her fantasy, she couldn't recall what kind of face she had dreamt up for him either. Was there facial hair or did he sport a shaven look? What color were his lips? A pale pink or a deep pink? Were they thin or full?

Zap was a great kisser and lover in her dream and she wondered if he lived up to that in reality. He talked a lot of shit. Plenty. So much shit that if he didn't meet the bar he had set, Leigh-Anne would never let him live it down. He was equipped to do the job, she got that from his, ahem, display. And she maybe.. might've.. most definitely let her imagination run wild with it? Dream Zap was just so... irresistible. He still had that cocky attitude that drove her up a wall, but that hardly mattered when he was driving into her hard against that same wall and making her scream. There was just something so captivating about him. His eyes had never looked more inviting. His voice, never that deep and alluring. His artistic hands had molded, sculpted, and bent her body like she was his newest project and-

Her mom placing a pillow over her chest brought her back from her thoughts that were going to get dirty before she even realized it.

Leigh-Anne looked to her lap at the pillow and then at her mother with a questionable look.

"Your nipples, Honey," her mother commented cheekily, making Leigh-Anne pull the pillow closer to her chest.

"Oh my God," Leigh-Anne muttered, covering her face with a hand. Not in front of my mom. God, why? she asked in her head.

"Leigh, I want you to-"

"I'm fine, I swear. I don't want to talk about it." Leigh-Anne groaned. Because apparently her body was attracted to someone who was a jerk and who's bottom half of their face, had yet to be seen.

"I just wanted you to know that I have lubes and some other stuff if you wanted or needed it," her mother said nonchalantly. "If this one isn't big enough I have a yellow one you can have. Or if you think it's too big, I have a smaller black one."

The vacant expression Leigh-Anne had said it all, and was enough to make her mother leave the room. She had learned things about her mother in the last five minutes that she would have been fine without ever knowing. 

Leigh-Anne's eyes wandered back to the toy when her mother closed the door. It only took a few seconds before it dawned on her that the colors of the toys her mother was trying to give her, matched the color of that punks Zap! tattoo, and she screamed. Because why? Was this a sign? Was she supposed to start -she cringed just thinking about it- involving herself with the guy with half a face? Maybe she would if she knew what he looked like. They could hangout somewhere sometime and that wouldn't really bother her. Her limited knowledge about him is what bothered her. The way she trusted him as much as she did, bothered her.

There were the things Zap had told her and there were things she had assumed. Clearly he was young, around her age probably. Any younger and he'd probably hold onto her leg and start humping it instead of tossing around sexual comments and grabbing himself.

He wouldn't admit it, but he was a family person, she could tell. On a few occasions he had to leave the park because of some text or phone call that he had gotten from one of them. He never seemed like he wanted to go and take care of whatever happened, but he was always packed up in less than a minute; Zap also complained the entire time if it counts.

Her hand came up to her mouth, briefly playing with her lips, then she crossed her legs and put her elbow to her knee while she rested her chin in her hand. A sad sigh left her and she knew she was going crazy, her lips were buzzing. She really needed someone to talk to and it sucked when the one person she usually went to was the reason she felt stressed.

Leigh-Anne checked her phone. Liam would be texting her soon telling her to wake up and get ready for their outing. He would probably add something flirting with some emojis, too. Poor Liam, she thought. Poor unsuspecting Liam. What would he think of her dreaming about some half-stranger/friend ravishing her and making her body crave such pleasure? More importantly, if she told him, what would he do?

_x

"Mom said, uh.. you wanted to talk to me?" Zayn asked his father quietly, closing the door to his father's study. Even if he was 22 years of age, was nothing more frightening than being called into his dad's office. 

His father, Yaser, was nothing but kind to everyone, a great, supportive, loving father and husband. And although Zayn knew there was nothing to be afraid of, his father was still the most intimidating person he had ever met. There was no questioning his dominance when he could make you do things without uttering a single word. Just by giving you a look he could have you doing backflips. It was why Zayn was so submissive and didn't like a confrontation or disagreement of any kind. 

His father looked up from his paperwork and smiled kindly at his son, waving him over. 

"Yeah. Come in, sit down." Yaser gestured to the chair infront of his desk. "Everytime I call you in here you still act like that kid who thinks he's going to get in trouble for stealing the last slice of cake," his father reminded him, chuckling after, and a tiny smile found it's way to Zayn's mouth. 

It was on Eid, and after an exciting day of games, food and movies, he couldn't sleep. Everyone had eaten and gone to bed while he was awake using the new art supplies his grandmother had gotten him, and he'd painted so much that his hands began to hurt. However, with everyone asleep and no one to show his awesome creations to, he was bored. He was so bored that he started to draw in the very corner of his bedroom wall, determined to finish the wall before the Summer ended.

Then he remembered the cake his mother and older sister had made and his mouth began to water. 

There was only one slice left when he snuck into the kitchen like a cake assassin on a mission. His mission was to locate and terminate the dessert as quickly as possible without getting caught, and if he did, his back up plan was to blame it on their dog. Half way through the piece of sweetness, the kitchen light flicked on and his father stood there, his thick arms crossed over his strong chest and giving him a look. The fork in his hand fell the floor with a clang, and Zayn's mouth remained open with the evidence half chewed.

After his father had scared him to death for a few seconds, Zayn had chosen to finish what he had in his mouth before his mind started to come up with a handful of excuses he could tell his father explaining why he was still up so late and why he was eating the last slice of cake when their treacherous dog had the nerve to walk up beside his father and sit. Before his attempt to lie his way out of it, his father beat him to it.

"My study. Now... Bring the cake," Zayn recalled his father telling him.

He had learned that being a cake assassin wasn't worth it when you got caught, put on trial, and the judge and jury were your father, whom you regarded as the most terrifying man on earth.

Everytime his older sister went into their father's study, she left with tears in her eyes. The only time he would ever see her cry was after speaking to their old man and she would never tell him what exactly their dad would say to her that upset her so much. But Zayn knew whatever was being said to his sister, he didn't want to leave his father's study with the same red cheeks and teary eyed face. 

His father had left first, their dog following behind obediently, and it only gave Zayn a minute to come up with a lie. Whatever lie he came up with, it had to be a good one. He sighed, grabbed what was left of the cake on a plate and walked slowly to the dungeon. Truth be told, Zayn had gotten away with a decent number of mischievous things. His mother would catch him red handed and he would come up to her, hug her around her waist, widen his eyes and pretend like he was about to cry while he apologized for his misdeed. She was easy, she never wanted to see her only son cry. His father, though, didn't care. Yaser did not buy into Zayn's theatrical waterworks and could not be manipulated that easily.

The door shut behind him and he placed the cake on his fathers desk before he father gave him a stern talking to about stealing and lying. Guiltily, Zayn hung his head. He planned on blaming his sister saying that she wanted the cake and forced him to get it for her, but she promised him half. His dad laid a hand on his shoulder and immediately his skin horripilated, waiting for something more, something that would hurt. Instead, Yaser ruffled Zayn's hair and pulled out a fork and said, "Like father like son. You just beat me to it."

His father never meant any harm, but he always showed Zayn what it really meant to be a man, and Zayn admired that. Zayn could only hope to be half the man, husband, and father his dad was, because there wasn't anyone else like him.

"How's school?" Yaser wondered, his kind smile still in place.

"Um..It's good. My lectures are fine, and finals are coming up," Zayn explained, wanting to laugh at himself for the choppy breath he let out in nervousness. 

His father noticed the laugh. 

"Nervous?"

Zayn shook his head and smiled a little. 

"No." School didn't make him nervous. Books didn't make him nervous. Testing, notes, sitting down for over an hour, none of that made him nervous.

People made him nervous. 

There was something about being around people that made him anxious, because Leigh-Anne definitely made him nervous. He had so many questions to ask her but he never would just because speaking more than a few words to her seemed impossible. She had him tongue tied and he thought that he would faint when she called him out on it. He gave the shortest answers and explanations when they hung out the other day and his anxiety levels were still coming down from that.

Leigh-Anne happened to be the most attractive girl on camps if you asked for Zayn's honest opinion. The way she presented herself as independent and humble no matter what, even when some of the most attractive guys on campus wanted her company she never let it go to her head; it was great characteristics to have. 

"So?" his father asked awkwardly. An extremely obvious shrug was his attempt at making this as nonchalant as possible and trying his best to not embarrass his son. He knew how easy it was for him to spook Zayn and send him into a panic attack, and that was the last thing he wanted. 

"So?" Zayn echoed.

"So," Yaser shrugged again, his last attempt at making this conversation casual, "who is she?"

There was the beating of Zayn's heart. 

And then there wasn't.

"Who's who?" Zayn squeaked out, then hid his face with his hand and sighed into it. 

Yaser smiled and almost laughed at Zayn's reaction. Zayn looked so much like him, but behaved exactly like his mother did when she was his age.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you," Yaser answered. "Waliyah went in your room this morning for a brush and said that you were mumbling a girls name in your sleep and uh...having a problem."

Zayn still couldn't feel his heart beating. 

"She saw that?" He probably traumatized his little sister and needed to talk to her about how it's a guy thing and she should ignore it.

"Yeah, but you know her," his father said dismissively. Waliyah didn't think twice about it after she had gossiped about who Zayn's dream girl could be to their mother. 

"But because I'm your father and your mother is nosy and wants to know who she is, I told her I'd ask... So who is she?"

"She's nobody, Dad," he muttered. He was scared to death to come into his fathers study just so he could be questioned about Leigh-Anne?

"Well, she must be somebody," his father insisted. "I'm sure she's nice and most likely very pretty. You know you get your taste in women from me." Yaser stroked his stubbly chin in thought. Trisha was fine when they were younger and just like wine, she was getting finer as she aged.

"Dad, I really don't want to talk about-"

"C'mon, son." Yaser gave him a stern look, all kidding aside. "It's just the two of us in here. Man to man. I won't tell your mother if you don't want me to, I'll tell her it was just Rihanna or something." 

The smile that Yaser gave him was so comforting and full of acceptance that Zayn could probably tell his father anything and Yaser would be okay with it. So Zayn told him. He told him everything about Leigh-Anne and how they went to college together, shared a class and even their Zap interactions; he left out his indecent grabbing of his manhood for his family's name sake. (His father would not be proud of him showing off how blessed he was.)

Yaser nodded along to Zayn's descriptive words. He liked the sound of Leigh-Anne, she seemed amazing, and she seemed to have Zayn completely mesmerized by her. It reminded him of how he was when he first met his wife.

"Leigh-Anne sounds great." Zayn eagerly nodded in agreement with him. "So when are we going to meet her?"

Zayn had finally caught his breath from the long story of who she was when he started to sputter. 

"Y-y-you d-don't."

"Why not? I'd like to meet her." Especially if she made Zayn so happy when he talked about her, he was practically glowing.

"Because we're... She's.." How exactly could he put it? 

Yaser waited for Zayn's explanation. It seemed like Leigh-Anne would be alright with meeting their family, it was Zayn who didn't want their family to meet her.

"She's sorta seeing someone," Zayn muttered and it burned his tongue to say.

Yaser snorted, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"And?"

"And she and I aren't really like... friends yet for me to invite her over?" Zayn continued.

"So?"

Zayn felt his cheek twitch with a little annoyance. His father really wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"Zayn," his father addressed sternly, uncrossing his arms and sighing. "You're a Malik. If you want the girl, you can get the girl. It doesn't matter if she's seeing someone or not. We Malik's are natural-born seducers, it's in our genes. When we want to attract someone, anyone, we can. Don't make me pull out the pictures of your mother and I when we were younger," he threatened. "Even though you're alot shyer than I thought you would be, you still have it in you to seduce."

"N-no, I don't think so," Zayn denied quickly, looking off to the side. He wanted to outright laugh because his father had to be full of shit. His seduction skills only worked on textbooks -yeah, he seduced the information right out of those thick things. They didn't stand a chance with one of his hands on their spine and the other flipping their pages back and forth.

"It's true. I'll teach you how," Yaser offered. 

"Teach me?" Zayn chuckled and shook his head. "Dad, I can handle-"

"First, you sit her down," Yaser said loudly, not caring that he had cut Zayn off. He figured Zayn needed to know how to do this if he ever wanted to get married and have children. "You look her in right in the eyes and tell her-"

_x

"You're really beautiful," Liam complimented awkwardly. He wasn't uncomfortable, but he was very surprised by Leigh-Anne's behavior. 

There were times when they would hang out together and he couldn't tell how she felt about him. She didn't give out mixed signals because she didn't give out any signals. Leigh-Anne would never flirt with him, he would start teasing her and sometimes she would play along, but he thought that because she was just an easy going person; he liked that about her. Other times he would catch her alone on campus and manage to snag a decent chunk of her time so he would create a "moment" and she would sort of brush it off like nothing had happened. He knew that was her way of friendzoning him, but he was determined to break out of that category. 

Liam knew she had been single for awhile and he had heard about what happened between her and her ex. It made him angry that Jordan could ever think to cheat on someone as amazing as she was. While it was happening and after it was over, he kept thinking that he would never do that to Leigh-Anne. He wanted to treat her the right way and show her how great relationships could be when you're with the right person. Niall mentioned something to him about Leigh-Anne not looking for a relationship, and being the romantic sucker he was, Liam wanted to change her mind and win her over.

But what the hell?

She literally couldn't keep her hands off him – not that he minded. But he didn't want to make a lot of physical contact with her in case it made her uncomfortable. That was one of the last things he wanted. However, the way she kept her hand on his knee while she stayed snuggled into his side and would peek at him through her full lashes was telling him that all of his physical advances were welcome with open arms. The kiss they shared in his car on the ride to her Grandma's was a nightmare, and if they were ever going to have a redo of it, now seemed like a better time if she was game.

"Thanks." She hummed and reached up to cup his face and stroke Liam's facial hair with her thumb. "Facial hair looks so good on you, Liam," she commented. "It's so sexy."

"Thanks. I've been thinking about shaving-"

"Shhh." Leigh-Anne put her finger to his lips to silence him and moved to sit on his lap. 

Liam looked down at his crotch and back up to Leigh-Anne who was leaning closer and closer to his face. He was under the impression that they were just hanging out today. That's what she had been telling her friends and that's what he had assumed when it seemed like she wasn't that into him. Just hanging out was fine. Liam knew that some strong relationships started with the couple being good friends before anything serious happened. He was fine with that. He only wanted to treat her right.

"Umm...Leigh-Anne?" he whispered when she had brushed the tip of her nose against his. If they were going to start making out and maybe a bit more, he wanted to know what changed. She never seemed interested in anything like that with him, so something had to happen in order for her to suddenly want to jump his bones.

She stopped leaning in and sighed before dropping her head to rest it on Liam's shoulder. 

This morning as she showered and got dressed, she told herself not to come on too strong, she'd look desperate and easy, and that isn't what she wanted Liam to think. She tried to be cool when he picked her up, but the quick hug he tried to give her turned into an extremely tight embrace because she had pressed herself against him and made sure he could feel her womanliness the way she could feel his manliness. Leigh-Anne kissed him on the cheek, held his hand as he drove, and although it started raining and ruined Liam's initial plans for them to take a stroll -he'd forgotten to bring an umbrella, but the weatherman had said there was only a 20% chance of rain so it wasn't his fault- she could lie and say that she didn't get excited when he suggested that they go back to his dorm until it stopped raining. So after making a quick stop at the store to pick up some snacks, they decided to watch whatever was on Netflix.

Netflix and chill. And everyone knew what that really meant.

She felt like such an imbecile now. Liam wasn't that dense to not know what she had been planning to do. Even now as she continued straddling him, she knew he was thinking the worst of her. 

"Are you okay?" Liam asked cautiously. His arms went to envelop her in a hug and he pulled her into his chest. "Is something bothering you?"

Yes. She was sexually frustrated, something she normally didn't experience, and it was driving her mad. 

How did he not notice that she wanted sex when she was ready to ride him on his dorm rooms couch? Really, Liam couldn't be that dense.

"No," she lied, succumbing to his arms and relaxing out of her straddling position but still sitting in his lap. "Yes," she admitted. 

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really." Leigh-Anne relaxed herself to the point where Liam was cradling her, her head laying on his chest. 

Liam was so lost. He only expected them to binge watch her favorite shows until the rain let up, talk about school and maybe some other random things. Leigh-Anne sitting in his lap after she was close to dry humping him wasn't what he had in mind today.

"Leigh?" 

"Yeah?" She looked up at him and pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. 

"What do you want me to do?" Her eyes dropped to Liam's lips when she stopped biting her own at the question.

She kinda wanted him to fuck her without judgement.

Liam shifted beneath her body, noticing that she wasn't looking at him anymore but at his mouth and he licked his lips, hoping they weren't chapped.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked instead and Leigh-Anne moved in closer and wet her lips, too.

She kinda needed him to fuck her without judgement.

And Liam got his answer when Leigh-Anne pressed her full lips to his.

_x

"So what do you think?" he asked, zipping up his bag. 

She was unnaturally quiet today. Usually she had quips and insults for him, today, nothing. He tried provoking her to say something mean and instead, she didn't say anything at all. He continued to talk, though, a tiny smirk on his lips thinking that maybe she carried her tape recorder on her because Leigh-Anne really hadn't payed him any attention. He would say something and she would nod along like she was listening but her eyes weren't focused, they were looking at other parts of the park that were finished. Whatever it was that was on her mind was weighing heavily on it so he decided that he wouldn't pry, if he didn't mentally switch gears when he was pray painting he knew he'd be just as spaced out. The talk he had with his father was repeating itself in his head because his father was impossible.

He couldn't count the amount of tips, moves, and lines his father said he could use on Leigh-Anne. It grossed him out afterwards thinking of how many of those his father might've used on his mother. And say if he did, if he even could use any of them, there was no way he could get Leigh-Anne to like him back. She still had Liam as a shadow and she still didn't know that her favorite shy person at school saw her after school and vandalized things.

"Hello?" Zap waved his hand in her face and she only sighed in response. "What's up? You good?"

She batted his hand away and nodded.

"Don't lie," he chided. "You weren't paying any attention since you got here."

"Zap," she said tiredly and looked at him, "I'm good. I think I messed up, but I'm good."

She had definitely messed up.

He sighed. If he didn't care he wouldn't even ask, but she admitted it so now he had to. 

"Okay," he sat beside her on the stairs and knocked his knee against hers, "talk to me. What'd you mess up?"

She really didn't want to talk to Zap about this, but she knew she couldn't go to her friends either, they'd tease her relentlessly and Jade, the gossiping Queen that she is, wouldn't be able to keep her trap shut. But Zap and that dream...

Leigh-Anne shook her head. She wasn't expecting him to be here though she should have known better. Honestly, she just didn't want to be at home pretending to focus on her coursework or entertaining her moms attempts at guessing who Zap was or how hanging out with Liam went. She wanted to be alone and in a nonjudgmental space so she could think and figure this out and the park, all of this concrete painted with Zap's graffiti gave her that.

"It's not worth talking about," she said dismissively, waving her hand and rolling her eyes to add emphasis.

"But it's got you in your head," he pointed out. "Like, say something. Talk. Yell at me. Call me names. Something."

"What if I decide to snatch your mask off?" she wondered. Maybe she would feel better if she did. She would finally get to see his entire face and there wouldn't be anymore mystery.

"Then.." He'd have a panic attack right then and there and he would never be able to look her in the eye on campus again. "Then it's gonna suck when you fall in love with me, like, how are we gonna paint together if you can't control yourself around me? And as much as I like you and think you're dope as hell, I don't think it'll work between us."

She smirked ruefully. "I guess you're right, even though you're probably hiding an ugly mug underneath it. I'll let you keep your mask on...for now." 

"For now," he mimicked and gently pulled on a chunk of her hair when he stood up. "I know exactly what you need but you have to come with me."

Leigh-Anne raised a questioning eyebrow at him as he watched him dust off his pants and pull on his shirt.

"You'll be safe, I promise." He put his right hand over his heart and his left in the air. "I go there it all the time, I think you'll like it. It'll have you focus on something else instead of whatever's bothering you."

"What is it?" 

"You're worrying too much, Leighzus," he teased and watched a pout form on her lips.

"It's hard not to worry when I don't know where I'm going." With a guy she didn't know much about and had a wet dream last night that he co-starred in and made her do something she felt like she was already regretting. "Or what I'll be doing when I'm there," she argued.

She didn't need more problems.

"I can tell you that you've probably been there before and you probably liked it." He's always loved it and if she felt anything that he did, he knew she would like it, too.

Leigh-Anne looked around. The sun was setting and it was getting dark, did she really want to go somewhere with Zap and stay for however long? She already felt stupid for what happened with Liam earlier, she needed to make atleast one smart decision today, and a smart decision would be for her to tell Zap that she had to go home, eat, do some homework and then fall asleep to some movie.

"C'mon, it's just a couple blocks away," he told her, pointing in the direction of the place. "And some walking might do you some good."

Leigh-Anne put her hands on her hips after he hoisted her to her feet and sucked her teeth.

"And what are you trying to say?" she asked with an attitude that Zap definitely caught on to.

"That a good walk would help clear your head? I'm not a complete jerk," he replied and rolled his eyes at her. Clearly something was wrong and he didn't want to make her feel worse with weight jokes. Her weight was fine just the way it was and he hoped she knew that.

Leigh-Anne checked her phone for the time. "How long will this take? I don't wanna be out too late."

"We'll stay as long as you want to," he rushed, shocked that she even agreed. "We can leave whenever you say." 

Zap offered her his hand after he grabbed something out of his bag, and even though she couldn't see it, she could tell he was smiling. There was something about his eyes, it was like they were smiling, too, smizing, and this was the most sincere she had ever seen them. She was hesitant to take his hand, this could be good for her, or it could be another stupid decision, she hoped it wouldn't be the latter.

God, she hoped she was going the right thing.

_x

"What the hell did you get me into? We're going to go to jail!" she whispered into his ear and he resisted the urge to shudder. Her mouth was too close to his ear and her warm breath kissed his skin in a way that wasn't good for his pants.

"We're fine," he assured her. "I've done this a million times and haven't gotten caught."

"Yet. You haven't gotten caught, yet. I don't know why or how I let you talk me into this. First vandalism and now trespassing?" She let out the quietest scream when she thought she had heard something behind her and grabbed his waist with both arms. "I wanna leave." 

He sighed and turned around. She wasn't about to keep torturing him with her body bumping into his as she followed behind him and pulling on his clothing every time she got scared and then decide she wanted to leave.

"Can you relax for a second? Just a second?" he asked her seriously and she dropped her arms. "Stop worrying, Leigh-Anne."

"But we just broke into-"

Zap quickly shushed her and clamped a had over her mouth when he heard something. The heck, she was starting to make him paranoid and he could do this with his eyes closed. He peeked around the corner at the security guard who flashed their light in their direction and held his breath, pressed Leigh-Anne closer to the wall with his body so they wouldn't see her hair; he could tell Leigh-Anne was holding her breath, too. They were stock still and Leigh-Anne was terrified that her heartbeat was loud enough for the security gaurd to hear, it thumped wildly in her chest and she knew if the gaurd couldn't hear it, Zap could feel it. She could feel his and his wasn't beating nearly as erractically as hers was and she wondered if he was so used to almost getting caught that it didn't scare him anymore.

A loud, "Clear," echoed through the halls, the light disappeared and the pair exhaled in relief. She sighed against his hand and waited for Zap to move out of her space.

But he stayed right there, his feet frozen to the floor and taking in this moment with her body touching his and waiting for her to push her away and snap at him for being so close.

But she didn't. Leigh-Anne wasn't that much shorter than him but the way he looked down at her, the look he was giving her right now was one of the same looks he had given her in her dream. It was intense and warming her in places it shouldn't and recreating that tight knot deep in the pit of her stomach that she thought she had gotten rid of earlier. And she really didn't mean to, really, but her hips had gained a mind of their own when they went forward ever so lightly thrusting against his and to her mortification, he pushed back after a second of mental deliberation and she whimpered softly into his palm.

He wasn't sure if he had felt that correctly when her lower half had tapped his because he was confused. She had thrusted her hips against his and he wasn't sure why she had done it, and when he thrusted back she let out an unmistakeable noise. And she did it again, she thrusted her hips forward again and he let her mouth go and swiftly moved away from her.

This wasn't what he brought her here for and he didn't even know what was happening. 

He cleared his throat and looked away from her and that's all it took for Leigh-Anne to snap out of the trance she felt like his eyes had put her in and feel ashamed of her behavior. 

"I uh.." She had made this sufficiently awkward now and they should probably leave and never speak of this again. She doubted he would bring it up right away, his brows were furrowed and he looked confused...but if he was confused he would ask about it eventually. 

He was going to ignore it for now. He didn't want to, he wanted to ask her what that was because it wasn't like her to do that and with a vandalizing, trespassing tagger punk that just snuck her into a public place after closing hours that she almost got caught with. No. He wouldn't ask. Not now. He would wait for her to bring it up.

"Come on, I'll show you around," he muttered, still avoiding her eyes and debating if he should grab her hand or not. His stomach was filled with nerves and that wasn't like him. Zap didn't get nervous. He didn't like this feeling right now. He had to shake his head just to get rid of the images that started appearing in his mind, they definitely weren't helping. They were persuading him to put her back between his body and the wall and to use one of those moves his father told him about.

"Yeah." She nodded and to his surprise, she reached for his hand and held it. Leigh-Anne looked at him from the corner of her eyes to gauge his reaction. He didn't say a word, he only grinned behind his mask and gave her hand a firm squeeze.

He wanted to chuckle but he was afraid she would take it the wrong way. If this was how she flirted, it was only going to get her into trouble with him.

"Oh yeah." Zap reached into his pocket and pulled out a black bandana, offering it to her. "Wanna cover your face or be a badass?"

She snorted and put her nose in the air. "I'm always a badass."

Zap scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You haven't been a badass since you got in through the window."

She objected hotly but accepted the cloth when he mentioned cameras. She had trouble getting it to stay tight and tied, every time she thought she had it she would turn her head and it would start sliding down her face.

"You can't do anything by yourself, can you?" he asked her when he was tired of watching her struggle. He took it from her hands and moved behind her to tie it for her. "Useless."

"Shut up!" It wasn't her fault that just bandana wasn't big enough.

He smirked to himself. At least she seemed like she was in a better mood now. He brushed her hair out of the way so it wouldn't get tied into the knot he was going to make and it moved right back into place until she held it up . His eyes zeroed in on the tattoo she had told him about and he slowly ran his thumb over the word. 

"Believe?" he murmured, still sliding his thumb across the skin of her neck and since he couldn't see her face, she started biting her bottom lip.

Maybe she was imagining it, but his touch was so gentle. She felt that slow burn in her stomach again and she started throbbing between her legs. This was a bad idea. She shouldn't have gone to the park and then agreed to come here with him. She needed to be avoiding him after a dream like that because here she was getting wet when he touched her tattoo. She subconsciously sought him out by going to the park and she felt so desperate and pathetic for it. 

"Believe in what?" he asked softly. "...Isn't there more?"

Leigh-Anne stuttered out a 'yes' and he hummed, wondering if that was the green light for him to look down the back of her shirt. She didn't seem very resistant, he could probably get away with it. Instead, he pulled his mask down and kissed her tattoo making her gasped at the contact. 

His lips were on her neck, he was kissing her neck! He had lips, his mask was down. She finally had the chance to see his face! 

And before she could say anything about it his lips were gone, the bandana was tied over her face and he was walking passed her with ease, his hands in his pockets and turning a corner.

"We can start over here," he called out to her and chuckled quietly to himself. "This one is named, 'The Dream'."

__xx


End file.
